Trouble In Paradise
by Mrs Sheppard18
Summary: When one of Steve's former Navy colleagues is murdered not far from his house, NCIS is given jurisdiction. But when Steve refuses to back off the case it results in a joint investigation that leads them in unexpected directions...
1. Chapter 1

Trouble In Paradise

_Set before the season one finale of Hawaii Five-0 and during season five of NCIS._

_Summary:__ When one of Steve's former Navy colleagues is murdered not far from his house, NCIS is given jurisdiction. But when Steve refuses to back off the case it results in a joint investigation that leads them in unexpected directions..._

_A/N: My first crossover and venture into both the Hawaii Five-0 and NCIS fandoms, so I'm a little (ok, a lot) nervous about posting this!_

_As always, I'd love to hear what you think about the story in the form of reviews, though please no flames. That said I welcome any concrit you may have._

_Disclaimer: Don't own either shows, but maybe if I save enough I'll be able to afford at least one of them... Should also say that when it comes to investigation procedures I am by no means a cop (or Super-SEAL for that matter) so I only know what cop shows and Google can teach me so I apologise in advance if I get something wrong. Same goes for locations in Hawaii._

_Unbeta'd so all mistakes are my own._

oOo

"I am never speaking to any of you again!" Detective Danny Williams ground out through gritted teeth from the driver's side of the Camaro.

"Well, that's good news," Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett stated, knowing full well that a rant was coming contrary to what his partner was saying.

"I cannot believe that you did that! No, I can believe that _you_ would do that, but Chin and Kono? You have no respect for anyone else's wishes and now you've corrupted the remaining two thirds of our team! I'm telling you this would never, I repeat _never_ have happened had I not moved to this pineapple infested hell-hole!" Danny paused for breath, an opportunity Steve didn't hesitate to take advantage of.

"Forget it, Danny!" He started to raise his voice too, "It was just a piece of pizza for crying out loud!" Steve couldn't help smirking at the memory.

"Just a piece of pizza? No, this is not just about a piece of pizza. This is about _you_ not having any _respect_ for other people's _wishes_!"

"Well, if you knew you didn't like it, why did you eat it? It's not like we forced you to or something!"

"Why did I eat it?" Danny lowered his voice and raised his eyebrows as he glared at his partner. "Why did I eat it? I'll tell you why! Because the rest of my team, whom I am supposed to be able to trust with my life, knew I wouldn't eat it so you covered it with excessive amounts of cheese!"

Steve rolled his eyes as his partner continued to take his frustration out on him. He had to admit it had been worth it though. To see the look of horror on his partner's face when he had gotten a mouthful of pineapple on his pizza had been priceless. Steve was happy to sit through one of Danny's rants after having witnessed that.

"Fine," Steve raised his hands in defeat, trying to put an end to Danny's ranting, "No more ham and pineapple pizza, you have my, Chin and Kono's word on that."

"You'd better hope not," Danny threatened as they got closer to Steve's house, "or you might find that a Bon Jovi CD got stuck on repeat in the CD drive."

"Not in your lifetime, Jersey," Steve smirked as the Camaro pulled into his driveway.

Exiting the car, Steve turned around to look at his partner, "See you on Monday, Danno, and say hi to Gracie for me."

Danny rolled his eyes at the use of his nickname, "Yeah, will do. See you then, Rambo."

Steve smirked as he shut the car door, knowing he had got under his partner's skin. As the Camaro pulled away Steve headed towards his front door but something seemed off. Testing the door handle he noticed it was unlocked and he didn't hesitate to draw his gun. Pushing the door open with his foot he moved inside with his gun raised. A glance at the security system told him that it had been deactivated and his pulse picked up as his eyes and gun swept the lower level of the house.

When most of the lower level had been cleared, Steve made his way to the dining area that led out to the back porch. His eyes landed on a figure sitting on one of the chairs out the back and he slowly crept forward keeping his gun raised. Steve stopped by the door, trying to get a glimpse of the intruder in the setting sun, confident that he could make the shot through the glass windows if needed.

With only the side of the man's face visible Steve called out, "Turn around, slowly!"

The man heard Steve clearly and smirked as he turned to face Steve, a beer in his hand.

"Clarke?" Steve stared incredulous at the man on his deck, the door still between them.

"McGarrett," Clarke acknowledged with a smile, "that's one hell of a security system you've got there, I almost set the alarms off getting myself a beer," he grinned.

Steve lowered his sig and holstered it as he opened the door to join his former colleague on the lanai. "How the hell did you know where to find me here?" Steve asked as he accepted the beer Clarke was offering him and took a seat.

"I spoke to a certain Lieutenant who's been here on a few occasions," Clarke grinned again at Steve as he took another sip of his beer.

"Catherine," Steve surmised as he took the lid off his beer and took a sip. "So what are you doing here, Clarke?"

"Can't an old friend just catch up to have a beer?"

"One with your background? No. You still with Naval Intelligence?"

"Yeah, I've spent the last few months on the _Enterprise_. We docked last week." He took another sip of beer.

"How are you on shore then? Cath said that they're restricted to the ship." Steve grew suspicious.

"Well, I didn't exactly walk out the front door if you get what I mean."

"So you broke regulation to come see me?" Steve raised his eyebrows, "Should I be flattered?"

"Nah, what can I say, I needed a beer," Clarke grinned again holding his bottle up towards Steve.

Steve clinked the bottle with his own, "Amen to that." He thought about the typically draining conversation that he had just had with Danny before taking another swig. "So why are you really here?"

Clarke grew silent and Steve furrowed his brow as he looked at the lieutenant.

"I can't really talk about it," Clarke replied softly.

"Why?" Steve asked, wondering why he would come out of his way to see him if he wasn't going to tell him what was happening. "Is it about your work at ONI?"

"Hmph," Clarke scoffed, "let's just say, it's just like old times."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Just that it's starting to look like it did around the time that led me to get a position in the same department as you."

"What? An investigation?" Steve wasn't sure if he was following where Clarke was going, the man was being annoyingly cryptic.

"Nothing official."

"Look, Bryce, you came to me remember? If you want my help you're gonna have to stop being so god-damn cryptic about it!" Steve felt the frustration building.

Clarke returned Steve's hard gaze for a moment, and McGarrett could almost see the internal battle going on in Clarke's mind, before the lieutenant looked down and stood up, causing Steve to also rise.

"I know, I'm sorry Steve. I shouldn't have come here," Clarke stated, but there was no hint that he regretted his actions in his voice, "Thanks for the beer."

"You're forgetting that I didn't offer you one," Steve reminded with a hint of a smile as he offered out his hand for Clarke to shake.

Clarke smiled back and took Steve's offered hand. "Maybe next time we can have a few and discuss the family." Clarke's eyes hung on the fridge visible through the doors for a moment.

"Anytime," Steve withdrew his hand and Clarke turned to leave in the direction of the beach. "You make sure you don't get caught sneaking back onto the ship!"

Clarke grinned, the tension disappearing, "Hey, I got off didn't I?" He called back. Steve smiled and lifted his hand up in a wave, a gesture Clarke returned before he disappeared from view.

Steve walked back into the house with his half finished beer in hand and pulled out his phone. Holding down number five on his speed-dial he put the phone to his ear, smiling as it was answered after just the second ring.

"Why hello there, sailor..."

oOo

Clarke decided to walk along the beach for a few miles as he headed in the direction of the harbour. It had been a long time since he had been on leave and he enjoyed the warm breeze and smell of the ocean. He stopped for a moment to watch the last rays of sun disappear over the horizon and the beach slowly began to be swallowed by darkness.

The peace was disturbed by the crack of a twig in the foliage behind him and he turned quickly, his senses on high alert. Before he could complete his turn a muffled crack cut through the still dusk air and he felt something sharp in his chest, closely followed by another. The pain in his chest worsened and his knees gave out and he felt the coarse sand beneath him. Gasping for breath he felt blood spill onto his chin and the pain seemed to dull as his body weakened.

Soft footsteps came to stop beside him and a face appeared above him, just visible in the dying light.

"You," he managed to gasp, knowing how cliché that sounded even to his fading mind, "it can't be!" The face was replaced by the silencer of a gun and the muted sound of a third and final gunshot disturbed the peace one last time.

oOo

"What's with the swim shirt McTimid?" Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo lowered his sunglasses as he watched McGee make his way over to the chairs by the side of the pool where he was already spread out on a deck chair.

Special Agent Timothy McGee scowled at the new nick-name, "I am _not_ afraid to swim without a shirt, but I _am_ wary of getting skin cancer. We're not in Washington any more in case you hadn't noticed, DiNozzo; this is Hawaii."

Tony smiled, "Look around, McMelanoma. No one else seems to be worried about it, besides, a little sun would do you some good."

"I believe McGee to be wise to care about sun protection," Officer Ziva David walked up to the pair wearing her bikini. "One can never be too safe. Do you mind, McGee?" She held out a bottle of sun block for him to help her apply to her back.

Tony jumped up from the chair he'd been lounging on, "You know I was just kidding before. I myself am a big fan of sun protection and would love to help you out, Officer David," he smiled.

"Forget it, Tony," McGee swiped the sun block from her hands and popped the lid off.

"Thank you." Ziva smiled at him then gave Tony a smug smile as she sat on the nearest chair and turned so that McGee could apply the sun block to her back.

"Our first leave in months and we have to spend it with DiNozzo," McGee grumbled as he rubbed Ziva's back, Tony eyeing him enviously as he retook his seat. "Not to mention sharing a room!"

"Would you rather bunk with Gibbs?" Tony looked over at McGee.

"At least I don't snore, DiNozzo."

Tony stiffened at the sound of their boss's voice as Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs came to join them by the pool. "Hey, Boss, didn't know you were up! And for the record I have a nasal condition..."

"Yeah, more like he has a jet engine stuck up his nose," McGee mumbled which made Ziva snicker.

Tony also caught the comment and glared at him. "Where are you headed to, Boss?" Tony asked, eyeing Gibbs' board shorts and old tee.

"Fishing, DiNozzo. Why? Wanna come?" Gibbs asked, although his tone wasn't one of invitation.

"Well, as tempting as standing on a beach all day with a pole and getting eaten by mosquitoes sounds, I have plans for the day."

Gibbs was distracted as his phone went off.

"Which are?" Ziva continued the conversation, curious.

"Absolutely nothing," he replied with a grin as he put the sunglasses back over his eyes and lay down on the pool chair with his arms behind his head.

"Glad to hear it, DiNozzo," Gibbs had finished speaking to whoever had been on the other end of the phone, "so you won't mind cancelling them then."

Tony sat up quickly, once again taking off his glasses to show his horrified expression, "Cancelling?"

"Why, Boss?" Tim spun around to face Gibbs.

"We've got a body."

"But we just wrapped up our case at Pearl," Tony complained. "Don't the guys in Washington know what leave is?"

"Well yeah, DiNozzo, it was real inconsiderate of him to be killed while you're on leave," Gibbs frowned at his younger agent.

"Sorry Boss," Tony looked a little sheepish, "but it's just that we're in Hawaii!"

"Give it a rest Tony," McGee raised himself from his chair to head back to the hotel and change, "we'll still be in Hawaii."

"Yeah, working!" DiNozzo also stood up and joined the others on the way back to the hotel rooms. "Where abouts is this body anyway Boss?"

"On a stretch of beach behind a park on Piikoi street."

oOo

_A/N: What did you think of the first chapter? Please let me know your thoughts on it! Thanks!_

_This story isn't quite finished yet so I don't know when the next update will be but hopefully it won't be too long :)_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Thanks for the response to the first chapter with alerts and adds and a big thanks to those who reviewed!_

_Just a short chapter this time otherwise the next chapter would have been 'The Godfather' long! But I promise a quick update :)_

oOo

Steve felt the warm morning sun on his shoulders as he cut through the water on his usual morning swim. Steve had surprised himself that morning, sleeping in until seven-thirty, but after a tiring week at work and a few beers that night he supposed it wasn't all that unusual. He stopped for a moment, his legs scissoring as he tread water, as he looked back to the beach. He figured he'd swum just over one and a half miles judging by the distant shore-line. His stomach rumbled uncharacteristically and he made the decision to turn back early, kicking strongly towards the shore.

As he drew nearer, something on the beach kept grabbing his attention every time he lifted his head for a breath. Steve stopped swimming again to try and get a better look. Whatever the commotion was, it was about two miles down the beach from the back of his place. He was too far out to see what was happening, but from what he could see it looked like a crowd of people gathered on the beach. Curious, Steve altered his course and headed in the direction of the crowd.

Not wanting to swim directly into the commotion, Steve emerged from the water a hundred yards or so from it. As he got a good look at what was going on his stomach twisted as he realised he had stumbled across a crime scene.

HPD officers were cordoning off the crime scene as he watched; the body lying on the sand near the dunes. Steve didn't want to get too close dripping wet and wearing only board shorts, but he took a few steps forward in an attempt to see the vic; he had a bad feeling he knew who it was. As the victim's face came into view Steve's stomach tightened further as he recognised him to be Clarke. Steve frowned at the realisation, not really knowing what to think; the man had come to Steve wanting to tell him something which left him wondering if he had been killed because of it.

Backing away, Steve turned and jogged towards his house, planning to get changed and call Danny before heading back to the crime scene.

oOo

"You got a time of death yet, Duck?" Gibbs looked down to where Ducky was kneeling beside the body.

"Judging by the liver temperature I'd estimate time of death to be approximately fourteen hours ago," Dr Mallard replied as he put away the liver probe.

"So, sometime around six-thirty last night," Gibbs clarified.

Ducky nodded. "As for cause of death, I think it's fairly obvious to say that these were the fatal wounds," he indicated to the three bullet holes, two in the chest and one in the head.

'Ya think, Duck?"

"Any idea who he is yet?" Ducky asked.

"Not yet, local LEO's didn't find any ID on him. They called us when they found he had a pass to get into Pearl, figuring he was Navy." Gibbs turned to where the rest of his team were processing the crime scene.

"Couldn't have picked a better spot for a crime scene," Tony commented as he took a picture of the ocean view.

"I am sure that's not what our victim was thinking, Tony." Ziva didn't look up as she continued to scour the sand in search for shell casings.

"I know and I mean no disrespect and all, I'm just saying that as far as final resting places go this would have to be one of our more picturesque crime scenes."

"You finished with those photos yet, DiNozzo?" Gibbs approached him.

"Ah, not yet, Boss," Tony redirected the camera back at the crime scene instead of the view.

"Then why are you talking?"

"Sorry, Boss," Tony winced as he continued taking pictures.

"Ziva," Gibbs called to her, "Any casings?"

"Not yet," she replied, her eyes still searching, "McGee has finished taking statements and is searching for any in the foliage on the dunes."

"McGee?" Gibbs raised his voice and Tim emerged from the foliage at the sound of his name. 

"Yeah, Boss?"

"Anything?"

"No shell casings, Boss, but I did find an empty water bottle."

"We're behind a park, McGee," Tony interrupted, "our job isn't to collect litter."

"It may be yours if you don't start doing your current job properly, DiNozzo. Bag it McGee. You," he nodded at Tony, who was looking sheepish, "get photos," as he indicated to where McGee had found the bottle.

"Yes, Boss," Tony jogged up to the dunes where the bottle had been found.

Gibbs swept his eyes across the crime scene again, they didn't have much to go on at the moment, but hopefully that would change when they managed to ID their victim.

TBC

oOo


	3. Chapter 3

oOo

Steve covered the distance from the crime scene to his house quickly and he soon found himself at his back door. Quickly wiping himself dry, Steve slung his towel over his shoulder and pulled open the back door. Picking up his phone which he had left on the table, he held down number one on speed-dial.

"_Yeah, Steve. What's up?" _Came Danny's reply.

"You with Grace?"

"_No, Grace is sick, I'm taking her next weekend instead. Why? What do you want?"_

"Good, I need you to meet me at the stretch of beach behind the park on Piikoi street."

"_The one around the corner from your place?"_

"Yeah, that's the one."

"_Why?"_

"I think we may have a case."

"_We_ may_ have a case?"_

"Just meet me there in ten, ok, Danny?"

"_Yeah, see you in ten minutes."_ Danny replied before disconnecting the call.

Steve put his phone back onto the table and moved upstairs to have a quick shower and change. In just over five minutes he was heading out the door and getting into his truck.

The drive there was short and by the time he was stepping out of his truck alongside the HPD squad cars, Danny's silver Camaro was pulling in.

Steve waited beside his truck as Danny got out and walked up to him, "Hey, what's going on?" He asked with a nod of his head.

"I'm not quite sure yet," Steve replied honestly, "let's go find out."

"You don't know? Then what are we even doing here? On our day off I might add!"

"Hold on one sec," Steve approached the HPD officer who was trying to keep a crowd back from the crime scene tape cordoning off the area. He nodded at Steve when he saw the head of Five-0 approaching.

"Who's running this investigation?" Steve asked as they reached the young officer.

"NCIS," he replied shortly, wondering what Five-0 was doing at the crime scene.

"NCIS?" Steve repeated as he glanced at the feds who were currently busy processing the crime scene. Pushing past the young officer, Steve lifted the crime scene tape and strode over to the agent who appeared to be giving the orders, Danny following behind.

"Sir, sir!" The HPD officer jogged to catch up with McGarrett as he came to a stop behind the senior agent, who spun around at the approaching commotion. "Sir," the officer repeated, "this is the agent in charge, Special Agent..."

"Gibbs," Steve filled in, carefully hiding his surprise as he recognised the older man.

"McGarrett," Gibbs nodded, seeming less surprised.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Danny looked questioningly at Steve.

"Yeah, yeah we've met," Steve replied keeping his eyes trained on Gibbs.

"You've met?" Danny raised his eyebrows, "like what, at a bar? Or a firing range maybe?"

"Not quite," Steve replied.

_*Flashback*_

"_What's your name, sailor?" Gibbs looked at the young lieutenant standing at attention behind his desk._

"_McGarrett, sir," Steve replied, keeping his eyes directly in front of him._

"_At ease, Lieutenant," Gibbs commanded and Steve relaxed slightly, training his eyes onto the NCIS special agent. "What have you been tracking, Lieutenant? Anything related to the weapons trafficking being monitored by Lieutenant Colley before he was killed?"_

"_That's classified information, sir."_

"_I've been given clearance in order to run this investigation lieutenant, so I'd appreciate it if you'd answer the question." Gibbs narrowed his eyes slightly as he spoke._

_Steve glanced to the officer who had been assigned to escort the agent around and after a nod of confirmation he looked back to Gibbs._

"_Lieutenants Griffith and Colley and myself have been monitoring a series of illegal weapons trades moving out of Europe in order to intercept them before they reach U.S soil, sir."_

"_Intercepted any shipments lately?"_

_Steve shifted slightly at the question, "No, sir. We've sent vessels to intercept on two occasions but the intel was bad."_

"_Or they knew you were coming."_

_Steve narrowed his eyes slightly at the implication, "you suspect there's a leak in our department, sir?"_

"_No, I don't suspect," Gibbs replied, "I know you've got a leak in your department, McGarrett."_

_*End Flashback*_

"What are you doing here, Gibbs?"

"Investigating a murder."

"So what, you're stationed in Hawaii now? I think the Governor would have mentioned it if that were the case."

Danny watched the exchange between the two men, not quite sure what to make of them. He knew his partner well enough to know he had been surprised to see the agent and while Steve's demeanour could be mistaken as one of anger, Danny recognised that the unexpected meeting had made his partner a little uncomfortable. There was definitely a history there that Steve had negated to tell him about and he made a mental note to find out just what that was later when he had the chance.

"We just wrapped up a case at Pearl Harbour, the navy knew we were in the area and gave us jurisdiction," Gibbs explained.

"Well not anymore," Steve replied calmly, "Five-0's gonna take over from here."

"And what's Five-0's interest in this case?" Gibbs asked, not backing down to the younger man, "it doesn't exactly fall into your jurisdiction."

"The man has a point there, Steven," Danny butted in.

"Have you ID'd the vic yet?" Steve ignored both men.

"Not yet," Gibbs narrowed his eyes as the ex-SEAL ignored his question, "he wasn't carrying his ID just his pass for the harbour."

"His name's Lieutenant Bryce Clarke," Steve supplied, "Naval Intelligence."

"An old friend of yours?" Gibbs eyed Steve suspiciously.

"You could say that."

Their conversation was interrupted as a younger agent came up to join Gibbs.

"We're all done here, Boss," DiNozzo reported, eyeing off the two local LEO's, "Ducky's ready to get the body back to the morgue."

"I'm sorry, who?" Danny interrupted again, but once again he was ignored.

"Tell him to go ahead," Gibbs nodded to Tony.

"Hang on, wait a minute," Steve called as DiNozzo turned to talk to the medical examiner, "I told you, Five-0's taking this case, my people will handle it."

"Might be a little difficult without the evidence, Lieutenant Commander," Gibbs gestured to where the evidence was being loaded into the back of an NCIS van. Gibbs stated Steve's full rank to let him know he had kept up to date with his promotion from a lieutenant.

"Well, that's no problem, they can take it to our crime lab at HPD," Steve ordered.

Gibbs narrowed his eyes, "What about the body? Our M.E's already done a preliminary report."

"Which I'm sure will aid Dr. Bergman when he does the autopsy."

Gibbs clenched his jaw as the younger man tried to push him off the case; he knew all about the Governor's special task force and their immunity and means; something he had to admit could come in handy while working a case. Gibbs wasn't going to let the case go however.

"This is a Navy investigation, McGarrett; you of all people should understand that."

Steve took a deep breath and Danny swore he saw the man's eye twitch slightly; he was clearly torn between following Navy regulations and his own personal interest in the case.

"We have the evidence and you have the immunity and means and knowledge of the island," Gibbs continued.

Tony couldn't believe what he was hearing; was Gibbs willingly pushing for a joint investigation?

"Are you suggesting a joint investigation?" Steve wasn't too thrilled with the idea; his team worked well together and he didn't really want to have another team butting in. Although he had to admit, Gibbs had proved himself to be a good investigator in the past.

"Unless you have another idea?" Gibbs could see that McGarrett was starting to sway his way.

Steve breathed out deeply, "Fine," he said looking at Gibbs, "it looks like we're working together then."

"I'm Detective Danny Williams by the way," Danny offered out his hand for Gibbs to shake.

Gibbs removed his gloves before taking it, "Special Agent Gibbs, this is Special Agents DiNozzo," he nodded to where Tony was standing not far off as he listened to their conversation, "and McGee and Officer David." The latter two team members were by the van packing away the equipment.

"Tony," DiNozzo reached forward and shook both Danny and Steve's hands.

"Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett," Steve officially introduced himself to Tony as he took the agent's hand.

"I take it you have an office where we can work on this?" Gibbs wasn't thrilled about the idea of going back to the cramped office they had been working in at Pearl.

"Yeah of course, but first I'm gonna have to drop my truck back at the house." Turning to Danny, Steve continued, "Call Chin and Kono have them meet us back at the Palace as soon they can, I'll be back in ten."

"Yeah, sure thing," Danny assured him.

As Steve walked back to his truck he smiled as he caught Tony's comment, "Palace? I like the sound of that!"

Steve was back at his house in no time and decided to take the quicker way back to the crime scene by jogging up the beach. By the time he got back, the body and both NCIS vans were gone, leaving only Danny, Gibbs and DiNozzo waiting by the remaining cars.

"Where are your other agents?" Steve asked as he approached them.

"Riding with the evidence back to the crime lab," Gibbs explained, "Detective Williams gave us the address so they can meet us back at your office."

"Oh and I ah, called Max," Danny told Steve with a smile.

"What he say?"

"Well he wasn't too happy having someone else touching his equipment, but he agreed to let Dr. Mallard, Ducky," he added raising his eyebrows as he glanced at Gibbs, "do the autopsy."

"Ok good, you two can follow us in your car, it shouldn't take long to get back to HQ," Steve explained to Gibbs and DiNozzo.

Gibbs nodded and he and Tony walked to the car they'd been loaned.

Danny threw his keys to Steve as his partner opened the driver's door. "I don't know why I don't just get you a set of keys cut," he grumbled.

"Neither do I," Steve smirked, "it would save a lot of trouble."

"Chin and Kono will be back in about an hour; they were visiting their family in Windward," Danny explained as soon as the car pulled away from the crime scene.

"Thanks."

"Did you, ah, see Officer David?" Danny turned to Steve with a grin on his face.

"No, why?" Steve glanced briefly at his partner.

"Well let's just say that I wouldn't mind being interrogated by _her_," his grin grew.

"Oh, really?" Steve smiled, "what about you and Rachel? I thought you guys were getting along now?"

"Yeah well, getting along doesn't mean dating."

Steve rolled his eyes. "What's with her being an officer anyway? What's an officer doing working with NCIS?"

"I dunno," Danny shrugged, "Gibbs said something about Mosand or something like that."

"Mossad?" Steve asked glancing back to Danny.

"Yeah, that was it!"

Steve laughed, "Good luck getting her out on a date then partner."

"Why? What's so funny?"

"Never mind," Steve shook his head, still smiling.

"So how do you know Gibbs," Danny asked the question he'd had since stepping foot on the crime scene.

Steve sighed, knowing that he wouldn't have got away with not telling Danny. He was silent for a moment as he thought how much he should tell him.

"_Well?_"

"He worked a case at ONI when I was assigned there," Steve said simply.

"ONI?" Danny didn't follow.

"Office of Naval Intelligence."

"Well it seemed like you two knew each other pretty well, what was he investigating?"

"That's classified Danny," Steve tried to say it gently so his partner wouldn't explode at him. He should have known that that would never have worked.

"Classified? Don't give me that classified crap! I am your _partner_ which means we _share_ information! If whatever happened back then is going to effect this investigation now than I need to know what it is!"

"Ok, ok," Steve tried to pacify him, "he was investigating a murder related to a leak in our department."

"Thank you! Was that so hard, huh?"

Steve rolled his eyes, "and no, this is not going to affect how I run this case, ok?"

"Ok." The two fell into silence for the rest of the short trip back to HQ.

oOo

"Now this is more like it!" Tony looked around the large area of the bull pen in Five-0's headquarters; the last office they had been appointed at Pearl Harbour had been small and lacked air-conditioning, something Tony couldn't understand seeing as they were in Hawaii. "McGee is gonna freak when he sees this place," he added as he eyed off the computer and TV screens.

"I'm so glad you like it," Williams stated as he, McGarrett and Gibbs came over to the smart table to join him. "What was the time of death according to your M.E?" Danny got straight back to business.

"About six-thirty last night," Gibbs supplied.

"Right, he left my place at about six which gave him about thirty minutes to walk two miles to where he was found," Steve nodded at the new information.

"So you were the last person to see Clarke alive? When did you plan on telling us that, Commander?" Gibbs eyed McGarrett suspiciously.

"Yes, I was the last person to see him. He came to my place, had a beer and then left, I assure you very much alive," Steve felt himself getting frustrated at Gibbs' suspicion.

"We're going to need more than your assurance, Commander," Gibbs didn't really want to have to suspect the man.

"After he left I called Catherine, we didn't get off the phone until after seven. You can check with her."

"Who's Catherine?"

"Ah, Rambo-ette," Danny grinned.

"Lieutenant Catherine Rollins," Steve explained, "she's stationed on the _Enterprise_," he supplied.

"The _Enterprise_?" Danny raised his eyebrows at his partner, "As in 'beam me up Scotty'?" He added sarcastically and earned himself a grin from DiNozzo.

"The USS _Enterprise_, Danny, it's an aircraft carrier," Steve tried hard not to roll his eyes.

"DiNozzo, get on it," Gibbs nodded at Tony.

"Right away, Boss," Tony walked a short distance away and pulled out his phone.

"What did you and Clarke talk about?" Gibbs continued.

"Not much," Steve neglected to tell the agent about Clarke referencing the investigation when he and Gibbs first met; still not sure himself what Clarke meant by it. "He didn't have permission to be on shore so I can imagine he didn't want to hang around too long."

"So he defied orders to come and see you, any idea why, McGarrett?"

"I'm sorry," Danny interrupted, annoyed as the agent continued to speak to Steve as though he were a suspect, "But I was under the impression that we were running a _joint_ investigation. What's with the third degree, huh? _We_ are not your suspects!"

"I'm just doing our job, Detective," Gibbs frowned as his gaze fell on Danny, "McGarrett was the last person to see the victim alive, which means we have to interview him. Even if he's helping with the investigation," he added as Danny opened his mouth to speak again.

"I understand that, but what I am saying is that _we_ are working _together_ so there's no need to _grill_ us like we're your _suspects_," Danny's hands moved wildly, annunciating every syllable.

Tony took this moment to rejoin the group, "Story checks out, Boss, the call came through at five past six and they spoke till seven-fourteen."

"Satisfied?" Steve looked to Gibbs.

Gibbs inclined his head slightly at McGarrett.

"Thank you," Steve brushed off the argument, "Ok, do the rest of your team know where to find us?"

"Yeah, they're on their way now from the crime lab."

"Good, the other two members of our team should be here within the hour, so why don't we start looking over the evidence." Steve clasped his hands together as he looked to Gibbs. "What'd you find at the scene?"

"Not a lot; DiNozzo," Gibbs looked to Tony.

"Yeah, hang on one sec," Tony replied as he produced a memory card from his gear. "These are the photos from the crime scene," he said as he handed the card over to Steve, who plugged it directly into the smart table. After just a few seconds the contents were displayed on the screen. "Sweet!" Tony remarked as Steve opened the folder and began enlarging the photos on the touch screen.

Pictures of Clarke's body began filling the screen and Danny glanced briefly at his partner to see his reaction upon seeing the man he knew lying dead on the beach. Apart from a slight frown, Steve appeared unfazed; '_I should have known'_ Danny thought to himself.

"Victim had two gunshot wounds to the chest and one to the head," Gibbs began to explain, "We weren't able to collect any casings so we're going to have to wait until Ducky pulls the slugs out of the body."

"What else did you find?" Steve asked, scanning the photos with his eyes looking for something unusual.

"Besides an empty water bottle, nothing," Tony replied, "which may still just be rubbish."

"Hang on a minute, were these photos taken before you searched for the victim's ID?" Danny asked.

"Yeah some of them were, we weren't called in until after they'd searched him but an officer gave me some of the photos he took before they touched the body," Tony explained.

"Which photos?" Danny asked.

"Uh, this one, this one and this one," Tony pointed out the three photos.

Steve selected the photos as Tony pointed to them and enlarged them before flicking them to the TV screens for them to view. The four of them stepped towards the screens to get a closer look.

"Aha," Danny nodded as he pointed to Clarke's body, "look at his pockets and his jacket; his pants pockets are inside out and the jacket buttons have been ripped." He pointed to the jacket, similar to the light, short-sleeve ones McGarrett seemed to live in.

"You're right," Steve nodded, "his jacket was buttoned up when he came to see me. Someone searched him."

"Well it wasn't the girl who found him," DiNozzo explained, "she never went near the body after her dog spotted it."

"It was our killer," Gibbs concluded.

Steve nodded, "Which means Clarke had something that they wanted."

"Question is; did they find it?" Danny added.

TBC

oOo


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Thanks again for the response to this story so far! :)_

oOo

An hour later saw both teams back at HQ and, after a brief introduction, they were brought up to speed with what they had found so far. Steve hadn't failed to notice Ziva's muscular build or the way she carried herself and had smirked at the thought of Danny hitting on her; this wasn't a woman the smaller detective would want to take on, despite her attractiveness.

Tony also hadn't failed to notice the attractiveness of the only woman on the Five-0 taskforce and had smiled charmingly at her despite her obvious younger age. His corny uttering of "Aloha" when he had shaken her hand earned an eye-roll from his boss and a glare from the rookie's cousin.

"Tony and Ziva, you two head to the _Enterprise_, see if you can find anything in Clarke's quarters," Gibbs ordered as the two teams stood around the smart table.

"We'll go with you," Steve gestured to himself and Danny. "We'll talk to the captain and find out what Clarke was working on. Chin, Kono, get the security footage from Pearl Harbour and see if you can spot Clarke leaving the harbour."

"Sure thing, Boss," Kono nodded.

"We can also try to pick him up on the traffic cameras if we find out where he left the base from," Chin added, "see if we can find the route he took to your place and if he made any stops along the way."

"Ok good," Steve nodded. "Also pull up his file and see if you can find his next of kin to make the notifications. I'm pretty sure he has a sister somewhere." Chin nodded and Steve was relieved he wasn't going to be the one to make the call.

"McGee, go with McGarrett and Williams, collect Clarke's computer or his hard-drive."

"On the ship, Boss?" McGee didn't look happy about the idea.

"Forget your sea-sickness tablets, Probie?" Tony smirked as Tim glared at him.

"DiNozzo, have one of the crew grab Clarke's computer while you're there." Gibbs cut the probie a break.

"Thanks, Boss," McGee smiled.

"You and I will head over to the morgue. Ducky should have some answers for us by now."

"Ok," Steve clasped his hands together once everyone was assigned a task, "let's head out." He glanced at Danny, Ziva and Tony. The four headed towards the stairs that led out of the office with Gibbs and McGee following behind.

oOo

After being cleared at the security gate, the Camaro and a borrowed HPD squad car pulled into Pearl Harbour near to where the _Enterprise_ was docked. Walking up the gangway they showed their ID again before boarding the ship.

"Officer David, why don't we head to Clarke's quarters," Danny offered, "see what we find?"

Ziva seemed to be ok with the idea of going with the detective until Steve called her back.

"Ah, Officer David? It might be better if DiNozzo went with Danny."

"Why's that?"

In the background Danny was glaring at his partner.

"Trust me, it's for the better."

"I'm quite capable of handling myself, Commander," Ziva was annoyed at McGarrett's apparent chivalry.

"I know," Steve smiled, "and it's not you that I'm worried about."

Tony grinned, understanding all too well what McGarrett meant and although he would have enjoyed watching the detective attempt to hit on his partner he decided to save the man the time and pain. "That's fine, we'll go search Clarke's quarters," he offered, "you two have fun."

Steve smiled and nodded to the agent as he and Ziva headed in the direction of the bridge.

"So Gibbs tells me you're with Mossad," Steve spoke up after a few minutes to break the somewhat awkward silence.

"Yes, I'm acting as a liaison between the agencies," she smiled.

"So how long have you been at NCIS?"

"This is my third year." Ziva glanced at him for a moment. "Tony said you and Gibbs have met before?"

"Yeah, we met a few years back on a case."

Ziva could see he wasn't going to say anymore about it and seeing as they had reached the bridge she dropped the subject.

As they entered the bridge of the ship, Steve glanced to the right and smiled as he spotted Catherine behind one of the computers. She looked up as they entered and smiled as he spotted her, Steve ignored the urge to go over and talk to her, instead walking up to the captain.

"Captain Johnson?"

"Commander McGarrett," Captain Johnson smiled as he spun around, "I'm glad to see that Five-0's helping with the investigation into Clarke's murder."

"You two know each other?" Ziva asked.

"We've crossed paths before," Steve said simply. "What can you tell us about what Clarke's been working on, Captain?"

"He's been monitoring a suspected shipment of weapons being smuggled out of Europe," his answer gave Steve a dreaded feeling of déjà vu, "and we suspect that it's the same gun runners that Victor and Anton Hesse were involved with."

"Who are Victor and Anton Hesse?" Ziva interrupted.

"They're arms dealers," Steve explained, "Anton was killed when his prison transport was hit and Victor, his brother, is behind bars here in Hawaii. So if Hesse isn't behind the shipment then who is?" Steve directed his question back to Captain Johnson.

"We don't know yet, we've been trying to trace the shipment back to someone but we haven't come up with anything yet."

"How long had Clarke been tracking the shipment for?"

"About eight weeks."

Steve nodded, "Ok, we're going to need the hard drive from the computer Clarke was working on and his laptop if he had one."

Captain Johnson didn't look too impressed with the request but after a moment he nodded. "I'll have someone grab them for you."

"Thank you."

"And, Captain," Ziva spoke up, "have you noticed anything strange about Clarke's behaviour lately?"

"I wouldn't know, ma'am, I don't interact with all the men and women stationed on this ship. You'd have to speak with the people he spoke with."

"Thank you, Captain."

oOo

"So what's her deal?"

"Who, Ziva?"

"No, Gibbs," Danny frowned at the agent.

Tony smiled, "Trust me, Detective, you don't want to cross her."

"Why? She have a boyfriend or something?"

"No, but you might just end up getting your ass kicked for trying to be hers."

"What? By her?" Danny looked disbelieving.

"You don't know what Mossad is do you, Detective?"

"No, what is it?"

"Israel's intelligence agency," Tony smiled at the detective as he continued. "She's a trained assassin."

"Assassin?" Danny stared at Tony in disbelief.

"If you want to go after Ziva David I just have one piece of advice; pursue at own risk." Tony grinned.

"Duly noted," Danny nodded as he returned the agent's smile.

"What about Kono, Officer..."

"Kalakaua," Danny smiled, understanding it wasn't an easy name to get your tongue around, "and forget it. Not only is she a rookie but she's Chin's cousin."

"Detective Kelly?"

"Yeah, and they're pretty much related to everyone on the island so..."

"Stay away, got it," Tony grinned.

"Not to mention she has a mean right cross," Danny added grinning.

"This is it, crew quarters," Tony nodded as they reached their destination.

"You, Navy man," Danny stopped an officer as he walked by them.

"Ensign Nott," the officer scowled slightly at being addressed thus.

"Where's Lieutenant Clarke's bunk?"

"You the guys investigating the Lieutenants murder?"

"NCIS," Tony showed the ensign his ID.

The ensign glanced at it before replying, "Yes sir, this way."

"Thank you," Danny said as the two followed him towards Clarke's bunk.

"This is it, sirs," he pointed to the lowest bunk. "I'll have Lieutenant Marsh report to you; this is his bunk here," Ensign Nott nodded to the bunk above Clarke's.

"Thank you, Ensign," Tony nodded as Ensign Nott left them to their search.

"Ok," Danny sighed as he pulled on a pair of gloves, Tony doing the same.

Pulling back the covers, the two investigators searched through them, lifting the mattress up and pulling the sheets off it.

"Nothing," Tony concluded.

"Not even any personal belongings."

"We'll get Lieutenant Marsh to show us to his locker when he gets here," DiNozzo suggested.

On cue, another officer joined them at Clarke's bunk. "Lieutenant Marsh," he stated, "I was told you wanted to see me."

"Yes, Lieutenant, do you mind showing us to Clarke's locker?" Danny asked.

"Yes, sir, this way." The three of them moved away from the bunks.

"How well did you know Clarke, Lieutenant?" Tony began questioning.

"Not that well, sir. He kept to himself most of the time."

"Anyone else on board he was close to?"

"If you were to ask other people they'd say I was the closest with him, sir. But besides the fact that we slept next to each other, we weren't close at all. He worked alone and always spent his downtime on his own. He did mention his sister once or twice though. I don't think he had a girlfriend."

"Did you notice anything unusual about his behaviour lately, Lieutenant?" Danny asked.

"Not really, I know he hadn't been sleeping very well; kept me up more than often."

"Did he say why that was, Lieutenant?" Tony asked as they entered the locker room.

"No sir, he didn't discuss his personal problems with me."

"Ok, thank you, Lieutenant," Tony dismissed him.

"Well that was helpful," Danny remarked sarcastically as Tony opened the locker.

"Well, he wasn't sleeping lately, maybe we can find out why."

Sorting through his belongings proved to be just as fruitless, however, the only non-essentials being sleeping pills and a photo of his sister.

"I hope McGee can find something on this guy's computer, because we've got nothing," Tony complained as they exited the locker room.

"Maybe McGarrett and David got something from the captain," Danny said as he pulled out his phone to call Steve.

"_McGarrett," _Steve answered quickly.

"Hey, Steve, it's Danny. You done?"

"_Yeah, we're just waiting on Clarke's hard-drive and laptop, we'll meet you back at the cars in five."_

"Alright, see you in five," Danny hung up the phone as Tony navigated them back to the exit.

oOo

The drive from Five-0 headquarters to the morgue was short and it wasn't long before Gibbs and McGee were walking down the corridor towards autopsy. In the distance they could hear a somewhat violent sounding rendition of Beethoven's _Für Elise_ which caused them both to frown. Ignoring the sound, the two agents walked through the door labelled autopsy.

"Aaahh, Jethro, I wondered when you would be paying me a visit," Ducky looked up from where the body was lying on the autopsy table.

"Who's torturing the cat?" McGee interrupted indicating to the noise echoing into the room.

"Ah, that would be Dr. Bergman, the resident M.E here; he didn't take too kindly at having to give-up his work space."

"You got some answers for us yet, Duck?" Gibbs got them back on topic.

"I believe I do, Jethro. I removed three bullets from the lieutenant here; two from his chest and one from the young man's brain. I've already had them sent to the Honolulu Police Department's crime lab," he said before Gibbs could ask. Walking over to the

X-ray board, he continued, "But, judging by the calibre bullets I removed from the lieutenant here and the position in which I found them, their velocity was slightly lower than it should have been." He indicated to the X-rays showing the bullets' location.

"It went through something before it hit him?" McGee asked.

"No, judging by the shape of the bullets they definitely entered the lieutenant first," Ducky corrected.

"They used a silencer," Gibbs stated.

Ducky nodded, "That would be my guess, yes; the results from the crime lab should give us a definite answer."

"Anything else, Duck?"

"I'm afraid that's all the answers I have for now, Jethro. Things are a bit slower without the aid of Mr. Palmer."

"Thanks, Duck, give us a call if you find anything else," Gibbs said before he and McGee turned to leave.

TBC

oOo

_A/N: So they've finished airing new episodes of H50 here until next year after only eight eps :( I may need some reviews to cheer me up ;)_


	5. Chapter 5

oOo

"Did you contact Clarke's sister?" Chin asked as Kono exited her office to join him in the bullpen.

"No, I tried twice but there was no answer, I'll try again later," she sounded relieved that she didn't have to make the notification just yet. "Any luck spotting Clarke on the video footage?"

"Not yet, but a fresh set of eyes would be nice," he smiled at his cousin, "this is the fifth camera footage I've looked at so far."

"Sure," she said as she leaned forward to lean off the smart table where the video footage was filling the screen. Pushing her hair back behind her ears she concentrated closely on the footage with Chin.

After over ten minutes of eye-straining searching, Kono pointed to the screen in triumph. "There!" She pointed to a spot on the screen.

"You mean that shadow?" Chin didn't agree with Kono's discovery.

"That's not a shadow," she replied confidently as she paused the footage and zoomed in. Enlarging the area of interest she brightened it so that the 'shadow' was visible as a person.

Chin raised his eyebrows, impressed and surprised, "Nice spotting, Rook, now, is that our man?"

"I'm not sure," Kono replied slowly as she stared at the picture closely, "I can't get a good look at him."

"Well let's follow him anyway and see where he goes, it's a good chance that it is Clarke," Chin said as he played the footage again. The cousins watched as the person moved out of frame.

"Do you have footage that covers that angle?" Kono asked.

"Yeah, we should," Chin replied as he minimised the screen they were watching and brought up another angle and fast-forwarded to the same time stamp. "There," he pointed to the edge of the screen as the figure became visible again. "Looks like he's headed towards Waipio Point access road."

They watched from a distance as he made it to the road and waited for a few minutes before a taxi pulled up along-side him.

"Can you get the number of that cab?" Kono looked to Chin.

"Yeah, one sec," he zoomed in on the back of the cab and enlarged it so that the number was clearly visible. "City cabs, 1575."

"Nice work," Kono smiled at her cousin, "I'll call McGarrett and let him know."

oOo

"Ok, good work, Kono, Danny and I'll check it out now," Steve hung up after Kono reported the new lead they had found.

"What did they find?" Danny asked as the car made a sharp right as Steve changed direction.

"Clarke caught a cab from the base, they were able to get a number off of it; City Cabs 1575," Steve explained, "call DiNozzo and David, tell them to head back to HQ while we check out the taxi depot."

"Got it," Danny nodded as he picked up his phone.

Before too long the Camaro was pulling into the taxi depot. Steve and Danny walked up to the entrance and were approached by a large Hawaiian.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah, Commander McGarrett, Detective Williams, Five-0," Steve introduced themselves, "We're looking for one of your taxi's, 1575 and the driver who had it last night."

"1575," the man repeated, "I'll just check the log for you. Follow me."

"Mahalo," Steve said as the two followed him into a small office space. Shaun Kealoha, Steve noticed the plaque on his desk, sat down behind his computer and started typing.

"1575," he muttered to himself again. "Got it, looks like Ian Momoa was driving it last night, the cab's not in at the moment but Momoa is on his break, should be back in a few minutes."

"Thank you," Danny nodded to him.

"No problem, I'll be out the back if you need any more help," he said before leaving.

"So how did it go talking to the captain with Officer David?" Danny grinned at his partner as they waited for Momoa to make an appearance.

Steve smiled and shook his head. "Professionally," he smirked, "just let it go, Danny, there's no way."

"No way what?" Danny glared at him.

Steve was spared from aggravating his partner further as a man approached the entrance to the depot. As he drew nearer Steve and Danny approached him.

"Ian Momoa?" Steve called out.

The man looked at them at the sound of his name. "Yeah, who's asking?" The Hawaiian eyed off the two men.

"Commander McGarrett, Detective Williams, Five-0," Steve repeated, "we'd like a few words with you if you don't mind."

"What's this about?" Momoa asked as he stopped in front of the two men.

"You were driving the taxi number 1575 last night?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Did you pick up this man?" Steve showed him Clarke's service picture on his iPhone.

"Yeah, he called the depot and requested to be picked up from Waipio Point access road. He was my last fare that afternoon."

"Where'd you drop him off?" Steve asked.

"At the end of Piikoi street, said he'd walk the rest of the way."

"Did you stop anywhere else on the way?" Danny asked.

"No, I drove straight there."

"What about his behaviour?" Danny pressed, "Did you notice anything strange about the way he was acting?"

"He seemed a little unsettled, nervous maybe. What's this all about anyway? Did he do something?"

"Besides being murdered? No," Danny replied.

Shock spread across Momoa's face at Danny's statement. "Murdered? And you suspect me?" He looked a little spooked by the realisation.

"Not at all," Steve assured him, "we just needed to know where he was yesterday evening. Thank you for your help."

"No problem," he replied as Williams and McGarrett headed back towards the exit.

"So Clarke was spooked about something when he came to see you," Danny stated as they got into the Camaro. "Any idea why?"

"Yeah maybe," Steve answered as he pulled out onto the street.

"You do? Great, what is it?"

"Just something he mentioned, or rather didn't mention," Steve didn't elaborate.

"Which _was_?"

"He said something about the investigation when Gibbs and I met, I didn't know what he meant by it at the time so I didn't mention it before now."

"So what are you thinking now?"

Steve thought for a moment before answering. "Gibbs was investigating a murder that was related to a leak in our department, Clarke said that it was 'just like old times' when he saw me last night and hinted at another investigation. I'm thinking Clarke suspected another leak in his department."

"Or he was the leak and he was trying to come clean when he saw you. We _were_ told that he worked alone."

Steve frowned but tipped his head as he acknowledged the possibility. "During the investigation we were tracking arms deals that we eventually pinned to Victor and Anton Hesse, back when they were still making a name for themselves. Captain Johnson told us that they suspected that the same group Hesse worked with in the past were responsible for the latest arms deal Clarke was tracking."

"So the same people that got to your department back then may have been able to get to Clarke now," Danny suggested, following Steve's train of thought.

"It's possible. And seeing as how we now know that Hesse has been working for Wo Fat..."

"Wo Fat could be behind the arms deal this time," Danny concluded.

"Exactly." Steve wasn't sure if he believed Clarke was a traitor; he hadn't worked with him for long before he had been transferred but he didn't strike him as the type to betray his country. Then again, he'd been wrong before.

_*Flashback*_

"_What makes you think there's a leak in our department?" Lieutenant McGarrett asked from behind the table in NCIS's interrogation room._

"_Lieutenant Colley certainly seemed to think there was," Gibbs stated as he took a sip of coffee._

"_He would have reported it if that were the case."_

"_Not if he didn't know who he could trust." Gibbs slid the files that were sitting on the left of the desk so they sat in front of him. "This report shows that Colley was attempting to look into your financial records the week before he was murdered."_

"_And why would he do that?"_

"_You tell me, Lieutenant."_

"_You think he was investigating the possibility that I'm a mole?" Steve asked in disbelief._

"_Why? Did he have reason to suspect you?"_

"_No!" Steve couldn't believe what he was hearing._

"_Then why did he try to gain access to your financial records?"_

"_I don't know, but it wasn't because I was being paid to sell out my country, _sir_!"_

"_Who said anything about receiving payouts?" Gibbs countered._

_Steve didn't reply, merely glared at the older man as he twisted his words._

_Gibbs continued, "Where were you last Friday night, Lieutenant?"_

"_On a five mile run," Steve answered with a slightly hostile tone._

"_And did that route take you through Glencarlyn Park?"_

"_Yes, sir. It's the same route I always take."_

_Gibbs nodded at the admission. "You see, we found Lieutenant Colley's body in a shallow grave in Glencarlyn Park." He watched as McGarrett's expression changed to one of anger and disbelief._

"_And you think I did it?" Steve raised his voice in disbelief._

_Gibbs didn't answer his question as he pulled out a photo from the folder in front of him and dropped it in front of McGarrett. "When we searched your house we found a shovel with fresh dirt on it; the dirt was an exact match to the soil at the crime scene, unlike the soil in your yard."_

"_What?" Steve felt his stomach drop as he stared at the picture of what he recognised as his shovel._

"_And that's not all, while searching your house we also found eight thousand dollars, in cash, hidden in a wardrobe. Is that the price of selling out your country?" Gibbs didn't attempt to hide the tone of disgust that laced his voice._

"_What eight thousand dollars? I don't know what you're talking about!" Steve got to his feet as he yelled. "I would _never_ sell out my country or kill someone else who serves it!" Steve glared fiercely at Gibbs as he continued at a quieter level. "My grandfather died serving this country, and so would I."_

_Gibbs also rose to his feet as he yelled in return, "Colley's body was found along your jogging route; the gun used to kill him is the same model as yours; you have no alibi and he was buried with _your_ shovel! Did he get suspicious of all the failed raids? Start investigating you, looking into your financials for evidence? You decided to kill him before he could expose you?"_

"_You've got this all wrong, Gibbs!" Steve stated with conviction, trying to convince the agent of his innocence; he knew how bad it looked for him. It was clear that he was being set up._

_Gibbs ignored the statement as he pulled out his handcuffs and moved behind McGarrett. "Lieutenant McGarrett, you're under arrest. You have the right to remain silent..."_

_*End Flashback*_

"Hello? Earth to Steve! Am I getting through?" Danny's voice brought Steve back to the present.

"Hmm? What'd you say?"

"Thank you, Commander McDreamy. What I was _saying_ is; are you going to tell Gibbs about all this?"

"I have to, Danny, we're running a joint investigation and this is crucial information. Why would I withhold it?"

"I know, and I'm glad to hear you think that way. I just wasn't sure with your history..."

"I told you at the start that it's not going to affect how I work this case, and it's not going to," Steve cut him off.

"Ok, good," Danny raised his hands, "I was just making sure."

"We'll fill the others in once we're back at headquarters," Steve confirmed as they drew nearer to said location and the two fell into silence.

TBC

oOo

_A/N: Hmm, people seem to love setting Steve up... See you on chapter six! :)_


	6. Chapter 6

oOo

If Gibbs was annoyed that McGarrett hadn't said something about Clarke sooner, he didn't show it. The two teams were once again gathered around the smart table in the bullpen as McGee typed away in the corner, going over the data from Clarke's laptop and hard-drive.

"So if we're assuming that Clarke was a mole then who would've had the motive to kill him?" Kono asked.

"The people he was working for," Ziva suggested.

"But if he was still tracking the shipment why would they kill him if he was covering for them?" Chin asked, "Wouldn't they want to keep him alive until after the delivery was made?"

"Maybe they thought he was confessing when he went to see McGarrett," Tony pointed out, "So they silenced him before he could say anything."

"But that doesn't explain why he was murdered _after_ he left my place," Steve said, "They would've wanted to stop him before he said anything to me."

"Maybe they knew he didn't tell you anything," Gibbs stated.

"You think they were listening in on us at my place?"

"Well Clarke was murdered only two miles from your house so they were obviously in the area," Danny agreed with Gibbs.

"What about the fact that Clarke was searched?" Kono reminded them.

"Well we didn't find a cell phone on him or in his locker," Tony replied. "We figured that was what the killer was looking for."

"I couldn't find a cell phone registered under Clarke's name," Chin added, "So if he had one it would have to have been pre-paid or he had it under a different name."

"Ok, but why take his phone?" Kono frowned.

"It could've been how he was keeping in contact with the arms dealers," Ziva suggested.

"This sounds like an awful lot of conjecture to me," Danny stated.

Steve nodded, "Danny's right, we're going to have to wait for more evidence before we can make anything out of these theories."

"McGee?" Gibbs called to where Tim sat at another table typing frantically. "What have you found?"

"I've been able to access Clarke's logs and find satellite photos and other intelligence reports pertaining to the arms shipment he was monitoring, nothing out of the ordinary," he added looking to Gibbs. "But I did find an encrypted file linked to an e-mail account in his name, but I've had trouble gaining access to it. I _could_ have used Abby's help on it."

"Director Shepard can't afford to send all of her staff to assist on a case, McGee," Gibbs reminded him.

"I know it's just..."

"What's the matter, McM.I.T? Mouse got your tongue?" Tony grinned at his play on words.

"I thought the American idiom was 'cat'?" Ziva looked confused.

"Well yeah, but it's a computer _mouse_," Tony frowned; the humour seemed to vanish at the need to explain the joke. "Never mind."

"You know, we can connect the hard-drive to our computer and your colleague can access it on a secure server at the same time as you," Chin offered, "so you'll still be working on the same data at the same time only on separate computers."

"Really?" Tim's eyes lit up at the suggestion.

"Yeah no problem," Chin smiled at the younger man's enthusiasm as he brought the hard-drive and laptop McGee was working on over to connect to the smart table. "You'll just have to let her know so she can connect with it. I'll open a webcam if you like. What's the address?"

McGee gave him the address and in just a few moments a window popped up on his laptop.

"MCGEE!" Abby's excited yell was heard around the bullpen, causing the members of Five-0 to raise their eyebrows slightly in surprise.

"Hi, Abs," Tim grinned at her reaction.

"I can't _believe_ you guys are on leave in Hawaii without me!" She pouted.

"Well we're not on leave anymore if it makes you feel any better and besides, I didn't think you liked the sun?" McGee reminded her.

"Well no, I don't, but that's not the point!" She glared through the webcam. "And what do you mean you're not on leave anymore? And where _are_ you?" Abby noticed the background behind McGee for the first time.

"We're working a case."

"Where?" She noticed the equipment behind McGee.

Gibbs came forward into view of the laptop's webcam. "Abs," he got her attention.

"GIBBS!" She yelled excitedly again.

"McGee needs your help with computer stuff," he told her.

"And how exactly does he plan on doing that when he's in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?"

"We've sent a request to you so you can access a private server and we can process the data together," McGee explained.

"Oh, cool," she said as she started typing on the computer. "Ok, I've got it. What are we looking at?"

"It's an encrypted file attached to an e-mail account, I've been trying to access the information in it."

"What have you tried so far?"

The two tech heads began to bounce ideas off each other as to how to gain access to the file as their fingers flew over their keyboards and they rattled off technical terms at what seemed to be one hundred miles an hour.

Danny stepped away from the computer shaking his head, "Wow, and I thought Chin was a computer genius." He was distracted as McGarrett's phone went off.

"McGarrett," Steve answered. He listened for a moment before answering, "Ok thank you," he disconnected the call. Turning back to the others he said, "That was the crime lab; the bullets they pulled out of Clarke were nine mil and came from a Sigma 40P. They also confirmed that the shooter used a silencer."

"Anything else?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah, there was some liquid still in the bottle that you collected, they tested it and it came back as water..."

"No surprises there," Tony interrupted.

Steve glanced at him before continuing, "But, there were traces of _Cuprom metallicum*_ in the water."

"What's _Cuprom metallicum_?" Kono asked.

"It's a nerve relaxant," Steve explained what the tech at the crime lad had relayed to him. "It's often used in Homeopathic medicine to ease stress."

"So was it our killer who was drinking it or some random stressed out beach bum?" Danny asked.

"I don't know, they pulled some DNA off the rim but they weren't able to get a match anywhere," Steve supplied.

"At least we have something to run a comparison with when we get a suspect," Chin chose to look on the bright side.

"Kono," Steve began, "have you managed to get in contact with Clarke's sister yet?"

"No, not yet. It goes straight to voice mail every time."

"Alright, well let me know when you talk to her."

"Yeah, right away, Boss."

"I got it!" McGee's excited yell echoed around the room.

"You mean _we_ got it, McGee!" Abby corrected with a frown. "Just because I'm not there doesn't mean I don't get the credit!"

"Right, sorry. _We_ got it, Boss," McGee corrected. "We unlocked the file."

"What's in it?" Gibbs and McGarrett asked in unison as they took a step forward towards the computer.

"A whole bunch of satellite photos," Abby frowned as she skimmed over the data from the file.

"Like the ones we already found on his hard-drive?" Tony frowned.

"Are you telling me that this is just the same data we already had?" Gibbs said, frustration clear in his tone.

"I don't think so..." McGee was opening the satellite photos and scanning over them with his eyes. "There's something off about these." McGee quickly brought up the photos they had already pulled off the hard-drive and started comparing them to the ones from the encrypted file. "It's different," he mumbled to himself.

"What?" Gibbs didn't catch what he said.

"It's different," McGee repeated a little louder as he looked up at Gibbs.

"What is different, McGee?" Ziva asked.

"The coordinates; longitude and latitude. The time stamps are the same on the photos but the longitude and latitude are off by several miles," McGee explained. "The coordinates in the encrypted file are about thirty to forty miles further west than the ones with the same date stamp in Clarke's intelligence reports."

"Why would he have two conflicting streams of data?" Chin asked.

"That's not all," Abby added. "Check these out; these are the most recent satellite photos on the encrypted file according to the time stamp."

Several more satellite photos filled the screen with a date stamp showing it to be three days ago. Steve looked at the photos and he felt his stomach drop; he'd been right.

The satellite photos showed the ship Clarke had been tracking, the _Fleur de Lys_, being unloaded in a harbour. The satellite photos from Clarke's intelligence reports from the same date showed the ship still miles out to sea.

Steve rubbed his hand over his mouth and shared a look with Danny and Gibbs as they came to the same conclusion.

"That's the docks down at Honolulu Harbour," Chin stated.

"Clarke was falsifying his reports," Tony stated what they were all thinking.

"Then we were right," Ziva nodded. "Clarke's the mole."

Steve nodded. "It looks that way. We still have to find out who killed him though," he reminded her.

"Good work, McGee," Gibbs nodded to him then stepped forward to talk into the webcam. "You too, Abs, put another Caf-Pow on my tab."

"One step ahead of you, Gibbs," she grinned as she held a Caf-Pow up to the camera.

"I said another one didn't I?"

"You spoil me, Gibbs!"

"I know, we'll call if we need more help." Shutting the lid of the laptop he disconnected the webcam. "McGee, print off both sets of satellite photos and Clarke's reports; there may be something useful in there."

"Danny and I will head back to the _Enterprise_ and talk to the captain again, tell him what we found. In the meantime keep going through Clarke's files see if you can find anything about where the shipment ended up after it was unloaded or any connections that will help us find where the arms dealers may be," Steve finished as he looked to Danny. "Let's go."

After a short drive and more ID checks, Steve found himself once again entering the bridge of the _Enterprise_.

As he and Danny approached the captain they overheard him finishing a conversation on the phone.

"Have the vessel ready to move out at twenty-two hundred hours tonight to take the ship," he ordered before hanging up the phone and turning to greet them. "Commander McGarrett, what brings you back here so soon?"

"Is that vessel intended to board the _Fleur de Lys,_ Captain?" Steve didn't answer his question.

Captain Johnson paused before answering. "Yes it is. We figured it was about time we acted on Clarke's intelligence reports." He replied sounding regretful.

"Don't bother," Steve said as he passed over the satellite photos of the ship being unloaded. "They won't find it where Clarke's reports said it would be."

"What is this?" He said as he flicked through the photos.

"The coordinates in the intelligence reports Clarke was sending you were falsified," Danny explained, "he was feeding you bad intel."

"Clarke was a mole?"

"It's looking that way," Danny nodded.

"Is this the reason he was killed?"

"We're still investigating that," Steve explained. "NCIS and my team are looking into Clarke's records and reports to try and find a link to the arms dealers. We recently discovered that Victor Hesse worked for a man called Wo Fat, an arms dealer who has strong ties here in Hawaii. So if the same people who were working with Victor and Anton in the past are responsible for the arms deals now they could be working for Wo Fat."

Captain Johnson nodded. "Do you have any idea where this Wo Fat is now?"

"At the moment he's been tracked here, to Hawaii," Steve said as memories of his recent encounter with his parent's murderer came to mind. "Which makes it all the more likely that he's behind this arms deal."

"Well if there's anything at all I can do to help please, let me know," Captain Johnson offered his hand to both men.

"I'll be sure to do that," Steve nodded as he took Johnson's hand.

"Thank you," Danny also shook the captain's hand before leaving with McGarrett.

TBC

oOo

_A/N: So my neighbour happens to be a Homeopath so a special thanks to him for the info on Cuprom metallicum :)_


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Keep your eyes open for a special cameo in this chapter! ;)_

oOo

When Steve and Danny re-entered the bullpen Chin was standing at the smart table while the remaining team members were poring over Clarke's reports on the desk at the back of the room.

"I pulled the security footage from the docks on the date Clarke tracked them to the harbour," Chin said as Steve and Danny came to a stop by the computer.

"Did you find anything?" Steve looked at the screen.

"Unfortunately, no," Chin flicked the security footage onto the screen and played it. "Here's the ship coming in," on the screen the _Fleur de Lys_ could be seen docking, "but then right as it's about to be unloaded..." All of a sudden the video footage distorted and became pixelated and the image froze as the screen seemed to jump all over the place.

Steve sighed and rubbed his mouth with his hand. "Are there any other cameras in that area?"

"Sorry, Brah, that's it. And the footage is the same at the gates half an hour later as the trucks leave."

"Ok, what about security guards?" Danny asked. "Were there any in the area at the time?"

"Just one was in the area at the time," Chin flicked the guard's profile onto the screen. "Walter Jennings. Kono and I were going to head out and talk to him."

Steve glanced at his watch and took note of the dying sun outside and shook his head. "Save it for tomorrow," he suggested, turning to the rest of the two assembled teams he continued, "that goes for all of us. We can go over Clarke's reports tomorrow, see if we can find anything with fresh eyes."

Tony sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "I thought you'd never ask," he stretched in an attempt to remove the kinks in his back.

Gibbs stood and moved away from the table. "DiNozzo, David, collect the files, we can go over them at the hotel tonight."

"Yes, Boss," Tony finished putting his stack into a pile.

"Here, I'll take some of those to go through," Steve offered as he took a stack of reports from Tony's pile.

"Thanks," Tony picked up the remaining pile which was now considerably lighter.

"No problem. Ok, I'll see you all back here at eight tomorrow morning."

Gibbs nodded to McGarrett before he left the office followed by his team.

"See ya tomorrow, Boss," Kono said as she collected her bag from her office and followed the NCIS team out.

"What she said," Chin smiled at both Steve and Danny before leaving.

"You ready to go?" Danny turned to Steve, knowing that he was the ex-SEALs ride home.

"Yeah, let's go partner," Steve said as he headed towards the door.

Once they were seated in the Camaro Danny started up on what seemed to be his favourite topic of the day. "So I was talking to DiNozzo today, he told me Officer David's an assassin," he still seemed disbelieving.

"Yeah I know," Steve replied from the passenger seat.

"You know? How did you know?"

"I've worked with Mossad in the past, I can spot a trained assassin when I see one," he replied like it was the most casual thing in the world.

"Is there an agency you haven't worked with before?"

Steve smiled but didn't answer. Danny rolled his eyes, figuring that if he pushed the subject he would be given the classified routine.

"Let me ask you something that's been bugging me," Danny started, "And if you give me that 'it's classified' crap I swear to God I will hit you. I don't care if you don't tell me everything, just tell me enough."

"Well seeing as you asked so nicely, go ahead."

Danny ignored the sarcasm. "If Gibbs was investigating you why do you seem to respect him so much? I mean if it were me I'd hate the man's guts for even _thinking_ I was dirty."

Steve sighed and looked out the window as he thought about how much he was going to say. Deciding that his partner would never be satisfied if he only threw him a bone, he replied, "When they started investigating our department, all the evidence was pointing to me..."

_*Flashback*_

"_Special Agent Gibbs has requested to speak to you in private, Lieutenant."_

_Steve looked at his lawyer with a slight frown as he considered the proposal from where he sat behind the desk in the holding area where the two of them had been discussing his case. "Is that a good idea, Commander? Aren't you required to be present?"_

"_I've already spoken to Gibbs, Lieutenant, there's no need for you to have a lawyer present. I'll be back later this afternoon." Commander Harmon Rabb Jnr* held out his hand for Steve to shake before he left the holding area. As the door was opened to allow Rabb to exit, Gibbs entered carrying a folder and the two paused for a moment and shared a quick nod before the Commander exited._

_Gibbs approached the table where McGarrett had remained seated and quickly took in his obviously sleep-deprived appearance before pulling out the chair opposite to where Steve sat, who was eyeing Gibbs off in turn._

"_What is it you want, Gibbs?" Steve was unsure what to expect from the NCIS agent; his recent experience told him to expect bad news but his JAG lawyer had insisted there was no need for him to be present which hinted that it couldn't be all bad news._

"_Commander Rabb tells me that you're adamant that you're being set up, Lieutenant."_

"_Like I've already said, I wouldn't betray my country and I sure as hell wouldn't murder a fellow sailor!"_

_Gibbs didn't say anything as he continued to watch McGarrett closely for a moment. After a few moments he replied, "I know."_

_Steve frowned as Gibbs' statement caught him off guard. "You know?"_

_Gibbs nodded. "Lieutenant Colley was murdered when he started investigating the possibility of a mole in your department and it was the same mole who killed him."_

"_And you know it's not me?" Gibbs nodded again. "How? What did you find?" Steve felt the anxiety that had built up over the past two days wash away as he watched Gibbs open the file and place its contents on the desk._

"_There were only three people working on the weapons trafficking you were monitoring, if you weren't the mole then that only left one other person as a suspect."_

"_Lieutenant Griffith," Steve supplied._

_Gibbs nodded. "To be sure we had the right man I had Griffith's financials pulled and after some digging, found that he had an off-shore account under a different name. For the past eighteen months, twenty thousand dollars was being wired into the account every month. Not only that, the eight thousand dollars found in your house traced back to this off-shore account."_

_Steve raised his eyebrows slightly at the new information. "Where was the money coming from?" Gibbs pulled out a piece of paper from the file that showed the payment summary for the account and dropped it in front of Steve for him to read. "Faraday Brothers Incorporated," he read off the sheet._

"_It's a company based in Ireland," Gibbs explained, "I looked through its financial and employee records and they didn't check out; it's a shell corporation."_

"_Were you able to trace the company back to someone?"  
><em>

"_Yeah, I did. It should be a name you recognise; Hesse." Gibbs watched McGarrett's reaction to his statement._

_Steve frowned and rubbed his hand over his mouth. "Victor and Anton Hesse?" Gibbs just nodded. "They're the brothers new to the arms dealing scene; we were able to trace the recent arms deals back to them."_

"_I know," Gibbs nodded. "There's more. After I found the pay-offs traced back to Lieutenant Griffith I had forensics go over all the evidence again; they had missed the fact that the padlock on your shed where the shovel was kept had signs of being picked and when they dusted it for prints they found a finger print belonging to Griffith on it. And his back-up weapon is the same model as yours and the murder weapon."_

_Steve released a breath that he didn't realise he had been holding as took in what Gibbs was saying. "I take it then that the charges against me have been dropped?"_

_Gibbs looked at the younger man and saw the relief written on his face and couldn't stop the corner of his mouth turning ever so slightly as he nodded again. "Yes, the charges have been dropped."_

_*End Flashback*_

"Oh," was all Danny said after Steve's explanation. "What made him believe you?"

"I dunno," Steve shrugged, "His gut instinct I guess. If Gibbs hadn't kept searching when it looked like all the facts were there I probably would've ended up going down as a murderer _and_ a traitor."

Danny nodded as they drew nearer to Steve's house. "Do you need any help going through those?" He asked as he looked at the reports Steve was holding.

"Nah, I was just going to have a quick look at them before turning in."

"In other words you're going to go over them with the proverbial fine-tooth comb until two o'clock in the morning."

Steve grinned as they pulled into his driveway. "You got it. See you tomorrow," he added as he stepped out of the car.

"Yeah, see ya then."

Steve lifted his hand in a wave as the Camaro pulled out of the drive.

Unlocking the door he pushed it open and placed the files down on the small table in front of the couch to the left before turning to enter the code to turn off the alarm. As he reached for the keypad, Steve noticed that once again the alarm had been deactivated and he immediately drew his gun. Looking around in what scarce daylight remained, he noticed that the house was considerably messier than when he had left that morning. He moved towards the back of the house through to the dining area, keeping his gun raised in front of him.

As he passed by the wall separating the rooms he caught movement before feeling a boot collide with his hands, sending his gun sliding across the floor and out of reach. Bringing his arms up in defence, Steve moved around the corner to face his opponent who was dressed in black and wore a ski mask to cover his face. The intruder threw a left-handed punch which Steve easily blocked with his right arm as he dealt out a strong left-handed punch of his own which he followed up with a knee to the man's abdomen. The intruder fell backwards but recovered in time to avoid the kick Steve aimed at his leg causing the ex-SEAL to lose his balance slightly, allowing his attacker to land a strong right cross to his jaw. Steve rolled with the punch before returning the favour by landing an upper-cut to the man's jaw. The intruder stumbled back a few steps and Steve swept his right foot along the ground, taking out the assailant's feet from beneath him and he landed with a thud on his back.

Steve leapt forward and put his weight onto the man's chest to prevent him from getting up. As he went to pull the ski-mask off, a boot collided heavily against Steve's ribs and dislodged him as he rolled onto the floor. Stifling a grunt of pain, Steve looked up to see a second intruder aiming another kick at him. Steve rolled again and managed to avoid the second kick before he jumped quickly to his feet.

As the first attacker got to his feet, the second man moved towards Steve and attempted to land a punch which Steve blocked. The back and forth between the two were rapid as the two men succeeded in blocking the others' attacks, until the intruder managed to land a blow to the same side of Steve's jaw from earlier. As his head snapped to the right, Steve felt a kick connect with the side of his left knee and he grunted in pain as it collapsed underneath him and sent him to the ground. As he moved to get up he heard a noise behind him and he turned in time to see the butt of his gun coming at him before it connected hard against the side of his face, and his vision went black.

TBC

oOo

_* They've been playing heaps of J.A.G re-runs on TV recently and I've really gotten back into it so I couldn't resist this little cameo! After all, Steve deserves the best of the best, right? :)_

_A/N: As always reviews are appreciated :)_


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: Thanks once again to those who reviewed :)_

oOo

Steve felt blood trickling down the right side of his face as the wooden floorboards came into focus in front of him. The sound of car doors being slammed and an engine starting up got him to his feet in a hurry as he remembered the two intruders. He made it to the front door in time to see the tail-lights of a car that had been hidden around the corner disappear from sight. Swearing, Steve made his way back into the house considerably slower than his exit, allowing himself time to assess any injuries. His head was throbbing but he was pretty certain he hadn't been hit hard enough to have a concussion and his memories of the fight were still crystal clear. His jaw from where the punches had landed was aching but it was nothing serious, as were his ribs from the kick they'd received and the fact that he was able to walk on his knee without any serious pain was a good sign.

Turning on the light he surveyed the damage done to his house, fortunately not much had been disturbed during the fight but his house was still a mess. The cushions on his couch had been pulled off, photos and ornaments were out of place and on the floor and files from his Dad's old records and cases were out of their boxes and littering the floor. Steve retrieved his gun from where the intruders had left it on the floor and held it loosely in his hand as he made his way quickly upstairs, he didn't expect to find any more intruders but he wasn't putting his gun away just yet. The rooms on the upper level were in the same state as downstairs which left Steve wondering what they had been looking for. He knew they hadn't been burglars; the fact that they hadn't tripped the alarm system, the way they fought and the fact that nothing appeared to be missing had him thinking that once again he had been targeted.

Looking around at the mess he pulled his phone from his pocket to call Danny.

"_You change your mind about those reports?" _Danny's voice sounded down the line.

"I need you to get over here straight away, Danny, when I got in the house there were two people inside," Steve explained shortly.

"_I'm sorry, what? Who are they?"_

"I don't know, they attacked me when I interrupted them and then left and it looks like the place has been searched. I don't know if anything's missing yet, but it definitely wasn't an ordinary break-in."

"_Wait, wait, go back. You were attacked? Are you ok?"_ As he spoke Danny made his way back out to his car, his keys still in his hand from arriving.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"_You're fine? So knowing you, for all I know you could need an ambulance."_

"I said I'm fine, Danny, I just need you to get here as soon as possible."

"_Yeah, I'm on my way now. I'll call Chin and Kono and have them meet us there."_

"Thanks, Danny."

"_Yeah, no worries. I'll see you soon."_

oOo

"What is the point of having a top-notch security system if every bad guy who comes along can disarm it and poke around inside your house, huh?"

"They were professionals, Danny, they hacked into the security server," Steve explained as the four team members surveyed the house to see if anything was missing.

"Like I haven't heard that before. How many people have broken into your house anyway? Because it seems that so far pretty much all of Hawaii is capable of breaking into your house! All I'm saying is that you might want to consider getting a dog or something, because your current security system is a piece of junk!" Danny finished with his arms stretched wide as he paused from his search of the den to confront Steve.

Steve frowned and rubbed the back of his neck as his partner's ranting added to his head-ache.

"Well it doesn't look like anything valuable is missing from upstairs," Chin reported as he and Kono came down the flight of steps. "All the appliances, and valuables are all there, didn't even looked like they'd been touched."

"Yeah, that's pretty much the story down here," Danny added.

"Have you noticed anything missing, Boss?" Kono asked.

"No, nothing yet. I haven't gone through all my Dad's files but looking at the pile they all seem to be there. Besides, there's nothing worth stealing in any of them."

"Although a concussion may be making it a little difficult to think clearly right now," Danny glared at his partner, firm in the belief that Steve needed to be checked out by a doctor.

"I do not have a concussion, Danny," Steve refrained from rolling his eyes after repeating himself for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Says the bleeding person who was lying drooling all over the floor not too long ago."

"I was _not_ drooling over the floor, besides, I was only out for a few seconds; just enough time for them to get away."

"Whatever, if you start hurling your guts up, I'm not going anywhere near that mess to clean it. I need a beer," Danny stated as he headed to the kitchen.

"Do you think this has anything to do with Clarke?" Kono asked, looking to Steve. 

"I'm not sure, but I think it would be one hell of a coincidence if it wasn't."

"After all, Clarke was searched remember? Maybe they didn't find what they were looking for and thought you had something," Chin agreed with Steve that this was unlikely to be a coincidence.

"Steven," Danny's voice came from the kitchen, "can you please explain to me why you have a phone in your beer carton?"

"What?" Steve could see by Chin and Kono's confused expressions that he hadn't misheard. "A phone?"

The three of them joined Danny at the table in the dining area where a half-empty six pack of beer was sitting on the table. Behind it, Danny was holding what looked like a cheap, disposable cell phone in his hand, his eyebrows raised at Steve. "Did you lose something?"

Steve looked at the phone in confusion, "It's not mine."

"Could it be Clarke's?" Kono asked, remembering they hadn't found his cell phone.

"It could be," Steve replied as he considered it. "Clarke helped himself to a couple of beers before I arrived home."

"Ok, but why would he leave you his phone and why would he hide it in your fridge?" Danny asked.

"Well if it was a way to contact the arms dealers and he wanted to come clean, he may have left it as evidence," Steve thought out loud.

"Well the man must have known you well to know to hide it in a beer carton, he must've known you'd find it there soon enough," Danny smirked.

"Need I remind us who it was that found it in the beer carton?" Steve returned his partners smirk, then frowned as he remembered something Clarke had said. "Before he left, Clarke said 'We can discuss family over a beer'."

"So?" Danny didn't see any significance in it.

"You think it might have been a clue?" Kono asked.

Danny was still sceptical. "It's a little abstract, don't you think?"

"I don't know, Brah, it's making a lot of sense to me," Chin stated as he looked at something he had pulled out from the bottom of the beer carton.

"What's that?" Steve asked.

"The reason we haven't been able to contact Clarke's sister." Chin held up the photo in his hand so the others could see it. Steve frowned as he recognised Clarke's sister tied to a chair with a gun pointed to her head. Rubbing his jaw with his hand he glanced at the rest of the team as they realised what this meant.

"He was being blackmailed," Kono stared at the picture in surprise and disgust.

"Yeah," Danny nodded. "He wasn't a traitor, that's what he came to tell you the other night, why he was murdered" he glanced at Steve.

Steve nodded as he once again pulled out his phone. "We need to call Gibbs."

TBC

oOo

_A/N: Next chapter will be up after Christmas so have happy and safe holidays and Mele Kalikimaka! :)_


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N: Sorry about the delay in posting, the updates won't be so regular now (I guess it's that time of year) but I'll update when I can. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and see you in the New Year! :)_

oOo

By the time Gibbs' loaned sedan pulled up outside Five-0's headquarters at McGarrett's request it was close to eleven o'clock.

"What exactly do we know happened, Boss?" Tony asked as they all piled out of the car.

"McGarrett called, said his house was broken into and that they have more evidence on Clarke," Gibbs explained shortly as they entered the building.

McGarrett had obviously been waiting for them to arrive and met them in the entrance to escort them up to their office. "Thanks for coming so late," he greeted with a nod.

"No problem, who needs sleep anyway," Tony remarked with a slight smile and a shrug.

Steve smiled slightly and moved towards the stairs, "Sorry about that, but this can't wait."

As they climbed the staircase and entered the bullpen Gibbs eyed off the cut on the right side of Steve's face, just above the temple, and the dark bruise on the left side of his jaw. "You said your house had been broken into, you didn't say anything about getting into a fight. What the hell happened, McGarrett?"

"When I got home there were two intruders searching the place, they attacked me when I interrupted them before they got away."

"How'd they manage to get away?" McGee was surprised the ex-SEAL had let them escape.

"By giving him a concussion," Danny supplied as he exited his office and joined them on their way to the smart table.

"I _do not_ have a concussion, Danny!" Steve rolled his eyes for the millionth time.

"Was anything missing?" Gibbs asked.

"No, they were looking for something," Steve explained.

"We have a finger-printing kit in the car, we can go over the place," Tony offered.

"No, there's no point, they were wearing gloves," Steve shook his head.

"You said you had more evidence about Clarke?" Ziva prompted.

"We do. We found this," Steve nodded to the computer where pictures of the phone and photo were displayed on the screen, "hidden in my fridge."

"In your fridge?" Tony repeated. "Well I guess that explains why we didn't find Clarke's cell phone."

"Why was it in your fridge?" McGee asked.

"Clarke hid it in a beer carton," Danny explained, "he must have known someone would come looking for it."

"Is that Clarke's sister?" Gibbs eyed off the photo.

"Yes it is," Steve confirmed.

"He was being blackmailed?" Tony frowned at the photo.

"We believe so," Steve nodded. "Chin's looking through the call records on the phone to see if he can find a link to the kidnappers."

"Boss," Kono called as she came out of her office, "check this out, I was looking over the picture of Clarke's sister and I managed to ID the gun in the photo. Get this; it's a Sigma 40P, the same type of gun that was used to kill Clarke."

"That's one hell of a coincidence," Danny raised his eyebrows.

"I don't believe in coincidences," Gibbs stated as he looked at the photo on the screen.

"Neither do I," Steve agreed.

"I'll start looking into the sisters' records," Tony offered, "see if I can find anything."

"I'll help," Ziva added, "I'll call her work, see what I can find out from them."

"Now?" McGee asked. "It's four a.m back home!"

"Then I'll just have to ask nicely," she replied. "Can you get me a number, Tony?"

Tony grinned at the phrasing of her question but quickly stopped when Gibbs hit the back of his head.

"Hey! I didn't even..."

"You were thinking it. McGee, go over the phone records with Detective Kelly," Gibbs cut off Tony's protests.

"Yes, Boss," McGee nodded as he walked towards Chin's office.

"What about us?" Danny directed his question at Steve.

"We're going to finish going over Clarke's intelligence reports," Steve said as he moved towards the table with the files stacked on them.

Danny groaned as he and Gibbs followed Steve over to the table, "I was hoping you weren't going to say that."

"Between the three of us we should be done by morning," Steve said as he sat down and pulled a stack of files towards him.

"Ah yes, I forgot that as a robot you don't have to sleep, but us humans need to do it at least once a day." Danny moved his hands around wildly as he spoke.

"The sooner you stop complaining the sooner we'll be finished," Gibbs reminded him as he sat down and picked up a stack of files.

"Thank you, Confucius." Danny turned his glare in Gibbs' direction as he picked up the remaining files and dumped them in front of him and muttered to himself, "What is it with army people."

"Navy!" Gibbs and McGarrett corrected in unison causing Danny to frown.

"Whatever! You're not normal," he stated as he picked up the first report.

Gibbs and McGarrett shared a smirk as Danny buried himself in files before they did the same.

oOo

Steve disappeared around sunrise to return fifteen minutes later with coffee and breakfast from a bakery near HQ. "Breakfast's on me," he said as he put the bags down on the table.

"Wow, this _is_ an occasion," Danny stated as he picked up his coffee and looked through the bags to see what Steve had bought. "Really? Ham and pineapple bread rolls?" Danny glared fiercely at his partner.

"It's all they had, Danny, they'd just started up the ovens," Steve smirked slightly and Danny wasn't sure if he should take him at his word.

Dropping the bag back onto the table, Danny moved back to the smart table, opting to go hungry instead. "Well while you were clearing out the Island of its atrocious ham and pineapple supply, we finished going over the reports."

"Did you find anything?"

"No, there was nothing in there that could lead us to the arms dealers, or the kidnappers for that matter." Danny was frustrated that their whole nights work had revealed nothing of significance.

Steve frowned, also annoyed that they had learned nothing from the reports. "What about the phone records?"

"McGee and Detective Kelly were just about to brief us," Gibbs nodded to where the two men in question stood by the smart table.

"What've you got?" Steve closed the gap between them to stand at the computer.

Chin started, "We found that Clarke received an incoming call once a week for ten weeks from an unknown number..."

"The arms dealers most likely," Steve stated.

McGee nodded, "Yes, that's what we assumed as well."

"So did you find the number the calls were made from?" Gibbs asked.

"Unfortunately the number was hidden under layers upon layers of encryption," Chin explained.

"So you've got nothing?" Danny's question was laced with frustration at their lack of evidence.

"We weren't able to get the number, no," McGee filled in. "But, we were able to access the telecommunications centre and by accessing a server using..."

"McGee?" Gibbs frowned, urging him to get to the point.

"Sorry, Boss. We were able to pin-point the cell tower that the calls came from. And seeing as most of the calls came from the same relative location..."

"They've probably got some sort of base there," Gibbs finished.

"Where were the calls made from?" Steve leapt at the new information.

"Right here in Honolulu," Chin replied as he brought up the location of the cell tower on the smart table. "Hawaiʻi Kai."

Steve sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, "That's a lot of buildings."

"Yeah," Chin nodded in agreement.

"What's there?" Gibbs looked at the two men.

"It's a mostly residential area," Steve explained. "The calls could have come from anywhere."

"Well at least we managed to narrow down the search area," Danny pointed out.

"Yeah, to the kidnappers, not necessarily to the arms dealers," Steve added.

"Well they're obviously working together so when we find them they can lead us to the arms dealers," Danny chose to be optimistic.

At that moment Tony and Ziva emerged from Steve's office where they had been working, looking tired and dishevelled from a long and frustrating night.

"What did you find?" Gibbs asked as way of greeting.

"Good morning to you to, Boss," Tony greeted tiredly.

"Please don't remind me," Danny groaned, feeling as tired as they looked, and no doubt how he looked for that matter.

"Rochelle Clarke did not show up for work on the twenty-third of May, just over ten weeks ago," Ziva leaned against the table as she spoke. "A few days later when the people at her work were starting to get worried they received an e-mail from her stating that she had taken time off and was going to South America for a remote hiking tour around the South American jungles."

"Her friends and neighbours we spoke to told us the same story," Tony added.

"'A remote hiking tour'," Steve repeated as he nodded. "So no one would be expecting to hear from her for a while."

"Exactly," Tony nodded. "But when I looked into her financial records there was no plane ticket, accommodation not even any hiking equipment purchased. _And_ there hasn't been any recent transactions made either."

"No surprises there," Danny muttered.

"A whole nights work and that's it?" Gibbs looked at his two agents in disbelief, having expected more.

"Despite knowing almost all of her life history, like how she grew up in Maryland with her only brother Bryce Clarke, that her father died just after she was born and her mother when she was nineteen and that she lived in Ireland for a few years, none of which is relevant to this case; that's it." Tony was just as frustrated as Gibbs that they hadn't been able to find anything more.

"And the people we spoke to did not seem too happy to be woken at such an early hour," Ziva added as she raised her eyebrows as she remembered some of the heated conversations they had had over the phone.

"To say the least," Tony added.

"Hey, Boss?" Kono wandered over to the smart table from her office.

"Yeah, Kono, what have you got?"

"I was looking over the photo we found of Clarke's sister and noticed it was obviously printed onto a piece of paper, not an actual developed photo. So it got me thinking that it was possible that Lt. Clarke had printed it off his computer."

"Or that the kidnappers had it printed off a computer before they sent it to him," Chin pointed out.

"Well yes, that could've been possible too," Kono conceded before she continued. "But I wanted to check anyway. So I started checking Clarke's e-mail account from about ten weeks ago when Rochelle Clarke went missing and I found this." She flicked the information from her data pad to the screens so they could see it. "Ten weeks ago, Clarke received an e-mail with this attached to it."

The photo they already had of Clarke's sister showed on the screen.

"He kept that in his inbox?" McGee asked sceptically.

"No, he had it in a separate, password protected folder in his account; it took me a while to crack it," she explained.

"Were you able to get the e-mail address that sent the photo?" Gibbs looked to the Rookie.

"Yes, the account is under the name of a person called Hayden Salisbury. The address listed for it belongs to an internet cafe in Hawaiʻi Kai."

"Hawaiʻi Kai," Danny repeated, "That's where the cell tower that the calls on Clarke's cell phone came from."

"Ok, great work, Kono," Steve commended; at last it looked like they had a solid lead. "Head over to the internet cafe; see what you can find out about the account holder."

"Ziva, go with her," Gibbs nodded at her.

The two women smiled slightly as they nodded at each other.

"Sure thing, Boss," Kono said as she pulled her keys out of her pocket and headed for the exit with Ziva. "I'll drive," she added to the Mossad officer, knowing that they only had a loaned sedan.

"Good call," Tony muttered when he caught Kono's comment. Ziva heard the insult and turned and glared at Tony but didn't say anything as they left the office.

"I'm going to head over to Honolulu Harbour," Chin stated, "talk to the guard who was at the docks the day the _Fleur de Lys_ was unloaded."

"I could go with you?" McGee offered, knowing that there wasn't much more he could do at the office just now.

"Sure," Chin smiled at the young man. "I could use the company."

"You're going to need these then," Gibbs threw the keys to their loaned sedan over to Chin Ho, having already noticed that the Hawaiian drove a motorbike.

"Thanks," Chin caught them easily before he and Tim also headed for the exit.

oOo

"It must be easy to go to work when it's in paradise," Ziva stared out of the window as they made their way to Hawai'i Kai.

"Well unfortunately there's still trouble in paradise," Kono replied. "Though I wouldn't say the scenery doesn't make it any easier." As a native Kono always appreciated the beauty of the Island, but she could sometimes forget just how breath-taking it must be to an outsider. "Pretty different to the city, huh?" She asked with a smile.

"There is no comparison," Ziva also smiled.

"So Danny keeps reminding us," Kono smirked.

"He does not like it here?" Ziva frowned; she found it hard to believe that someone could hate Hawaii.

"Well, he doesn't like the beach _or_ rainforests," Kono explained, "And seeing as how Hawaii's pretty much one or the other..." she paused for a moment. "Let's just say that I'm pretty certain I can name every district in New Jersey thanks to Danny and his rants."

Ziva smiled, "Well _I_ would certainly trade Washington for Hawaii any day."

"You and all the other sane people on the planet," Kono returned her smile as they pulled into the internet cafe parking lot. "This is it," she stated as she parked the car. The rest of the parking lot was practically deserted and besides the attendant behind the counter there was only one other person using the computers.

"Aloha, ladies," he greeted as they entered, "are you after a computer for half an hour or an hour? I can do you a deal, two for the price of one," he added as he looked the two women over. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to see identification before I let you use a computer though, company policy."

"No problem," Kono replied as she flashed her badge at the attendant.

"NCIS, Five-0," Ziva stated as she also showed her ID to the young man.

The attendant straightened and lost his smile, "And what can I do for Five-0 and N..." he didn't recognise the other name.

"NCIS," Ziva repeated slightly annoyed, although she knew she should be used to the reaction by now. "Naval Criminal Investigative Service. We're looking for one of your patrons here; Hayden Salisbury."

"Yeah, I know Hayden," he nodded at the name. "She comes in here probably once every two weeks."

"She?" Kono let the surprise show on her face, having thought Hayden to be a man, given the name.

"Do you have an address for her?" Ziva asked.

"No, we don't ask for addresses or anything, we just have to see some ID before they're allowed on the computers. Most people just show us their driver's license."

"Well driver's licenses list their address on it," Kono reminded him, "Do you keep a record of your customer's ID?"

"No sorry. But it wouldn't do you any good anyway; Hayden used her passport as her ID. I remember because she wasn't happy about having to show ID and when I told her that a driver's license would do she said she didn't have one because she was new to the States."

"Where was the passport from?" Ziva frowned slightly at the new piece of information.

"Canada," he replied.

"Right," Kono sighed, "So we wouldn't have been able to get an address from the passport anyway."

The attendant nodded again.

"What about security camera footage?" Ziva eyed off the camera visible behind the attendant which had a clear view of the customers at the counter. "Can you show us her on the footage, so we can get a picture of her."

"Yeah, I can do that. I'll just have to check the logs first to see when she was here last." He was curious as to why the police were interested in Hayden and wondered what she had done, but he was too nervous to ask. "Here it is; she was last here a week ago. Just give me a minute to get the footage."

"Thank you," Kono replied.

After a minute or so, he turned the computer around to face them. "Here, that's her."

Ziva and Kono stared at the paused footage of Hayden Salisbury. Ziva's eyebrows shot up in surprise as she looked at the image.

"Oh my God," Kono stated as she pulled out her cell. "We need to call the others."

TBC

oOo


	10. Chapter 10

oOo

"Boss," Tony called as he rejoined Gibbs, McGarrett and Williams at the smart table.

"Yeah, DiNozzo, what've you got?"

"I did some more digging into Rochelle Clarke's history in case we missed something important."

"What did you find?"

"Several years ago she was working for a firm in Ireland but it was shut down when the company that owned it was closed down. There's no mention why it was shut down."

"What was the name of the company?" Gibbs asked.

"Faraday Brothers Incorporated."

"I'm sorry, what?" McGarrett froze slightly at the name and shared a look with Gibbs.

"Faraday Brothers Incorporated," Tony repeated watching the look exchanged between his boss and the head of Five-0.

"Hey, what's with the face?" Danny had also noticed the meaningful look.

"Faraday Brothers Incorporated was a shell corporation used by Victor and Anton Hesse to fund their arms deals. It was shut down when we exposed it," Steve explained as he looked to each member present as he spoke.

"And by 'we' you mean..." Danny left the question open for Steve to finish.

"Naval Intelligence and NCIS, when my department was being investigated."

"Where's she working now?" Gibbs looked back to Tony for answers.

"She moved back to the States when the company closed down and has been working for a real estate firm ever since; "Pines Real Estate_."_

"Pines Real Estate_,_" Steve recalled the name. They have a branch here in Hawaii."

"Says here that they're owned by a company called Operations United," Tony added as he looked at the notes he had written.

"Wow, that's generic," Danny raised his eyebrows at the suspicious name.

"Never heard of it," Steve commented, also suspicious. "Who owns it?"

"Ah, a man called Hiro Noshimuri," Tony stumbled slightly over the last name.

This time both Steve and Danny froze at the new piece of information and quickly glanced at each other.

"Noshimuri?" Steve repeated, shocked at the discovery.

"Yeah." Tony frowned slightly at their reaction. "He owns a bunch of companies, a lot of which are in Hawaii, especially in the shipping industry. Why? Do you know him?"

"Hiro Noshimuri is the head of the Japanese Yakuza here in Hawaii," Steve explained. "he's been charged for kidnapping my sister."

"This man kidnapped your sister?" Gibbs frowned; he had to admit he hadn't seen that coming. "Why would he do that?"

"To get evidence from an investigation my father had been working on before he was killed."

"We weren't able to nail him for his connections to the Yakuza," Danny added bitterly.

"Well, if Noshimuri was behind your sister's kidnapping, could he be behind kidnapping Rochelle Clarke?" Tony was hoping they had finally found a lead.

"It's possible," Danny conceded with a tip of his head. "He got out on bail several weeks ago."

"I'm not sure we're looking at a kidnapping anymore." Gibbs' statement shocked the others.

"What, you think she's involved in all this somehow?" Danny's eyebrows shot upwards at the accusation.

"Gibbs has a point," Steve agreed with what Gibbs was insinuating. "I mean she just _happens_ to work for a shell corporation run by Victor and Anton Hesse? Then when it closes down she starts working for a company owned by Noshimuri, one of the heads of the Yakuza who has known ties to Wo Fat."

"The arms dealer Hesse worked for, who's a person of interest in this latest arms deal," Gibbs finished.

"So, what? She faked her own kidnapping to force her brother to act as a mole for them?" Tony wasn't sure he agreed with their accusations.

"That's pretty cold," Danny stated as he started to see Gibbs' point.

"She has strong ties to someone in Naval Intelligence; that makes her a valuable employee for arms dealers if they ever needed to manipulate someone on the inside," Gibbs pointed out.

"Hang on, can we slow down for a minute?" Tony held his hands up as he spoke. "We have absolutely no evidence to support that she was involved in this other than a few coincidences."

"I don't believe in coincidences," Gibbs and McGarrett stated at the same time and quickly glanced at each other slightly amused.

"Wow, already in stereo," Danny remarked with a slight smirk.

"All I'm saying is, that we shouldn't stop treating her like a victim until we have proof that she's not," Tony finished.

"Ok then, give me proof that she's not," Gibbs ordered him to go and do more thorough research.

"Right, on it, Boss," Tony moved to head back to McGarrett's office when Steve's cell phone rang.

"Kono, what've you got?" he asked as he held the phone to his ear. The other three investigators in the room watched with interest as McGarrett's expression changed to one of shock which was quickly replaced by triumph.

"What? What did they find?" Danny couldn't contain his impatience.

"Ok, great work, we'll see you back here," Steve looked around at the others as he hung up. "Kono and David were able to get photo ID of the person who the e-mail account belongs to."

"Hayden Salisbury," Tony nodded as he recalled the name.

"So, who is he?" Danny urged his partner to continue.

"_She_, is Rochelle Clarke," Steve couldn't believe they had been right about their accusations. "She's working for the arms dealers."

oOo

The doors to Five-0 headquarters opened as Chin and McGee made their way into the bullpen where most of the teams were once again was gathered around the smart table, Kono and Ziva having returned only five minutes earlier.

"Hey, what did you find out from the guard?" Steve looked up from the computer to greet them.

Chin started, "He remembered the ship being unloaded and after some prodding, remembered that the trucks the cargo was loaded into had a company name written on the side..."

"Operations United?" Gibbs cut across his explanation.

"Yeah," McGee frowned in surprise; _how does Gibbs always do that?_

"How did you know that?" Chin was also surprised.

"We did some digging while you were out. Turns out Rochelle Clarke works for a real estate office owned by what we believe is a shell corporation owned by Hiro Noshimuri; Operations United. DiNozzo's looking into their financials right now," Steve filled them in on their discovery.

"Noshimuri?" Chin repeated, surprise evident on his face.

"Yeah," Kono joined the conversation. "And that's not all; Ziva and I managed to get a picture of Hayden Salisbury, who sent the photo to Clarke's computer and look who it is." She flicked the security camera photo onto the screen for Chin and McGee to see.

The two men stared at the picture. Rochelle Clarke now sported dark brown hair as opposed to her usual blonde and she appeared to have lost some weight; other than that she was still easily identifiable as Rochelle Clarke.

"Clarke's sister," Chin stated grimly as he realised what the photo meant.

"She matches the description Jennings gave us," McGee turned from the photo to look at Chin.

"What description would that be, McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"The guard we spoke to, Walter Jennings, said he remembered seeing a woman hanging around the docks when the trucks were being loaded," Tim explained. "Description matches the photo of Clarke's sister," he nodded at the screen.

"Well, we're running her picture and the name Hayden Salisbury through facial recognition and customs right now; the internet cafe attendant said she has a Canadian passport," Kono explained. "We're also looking for a credit card under her name."

"Hey, Boss," Tony called, once again emerging from Steve's office where he had been working. "I did some more digging into Operations United. They ship all over the world, mostly commercial equipment belonging to the smaller businesses they own, but check this out; one of the ships registered to them is the _Fleur de Lys_. It left the UK several weeks ago. Clarke was tracking it since it left port."

"Then why didn't the Navy make the connection to Operations United and to Noshimuri?" Gibbs frowned.

"Because Clarke didn't mention it in his reports. The only place I could find reference to it was in the encrypted file he had on his hard-drive."

"Can we just go back a minute here," McGee asked, "who exactly is Noshimuri?"

The others took a few minutes to bring McGee and Chin up to speed about the details they had uncovered.

"So if we find Rochelle Clarke, she can lead us to the arms dealers," McGee summarised after their explanation.

"At least that's what we're hoping," Danny nodded.

"We just got a hit through customs," Kono interrupted as their attention all shifted back to the main screen.

Ziva leaned over Kono's shoulder to see the information on the screen. "Looks like 'Hayden Salisbury' arrived in Hawaii just over eleven weeks ago."

"That's our time line," Tony stated the obvious.

"Was she travelling with anyone?" Gibbs asked.

"Doesn't look like it," Kono shook her head. "But, the ticket was payed for using an American Express card." She smiled triumphantly.

"Whose name is the card under?" Steve asked.

"Hayden Salisbury; she has an account with the Royal Bank of Canada," Kono finished as she flicked the passport photo along with the payment details onto the big screen.

"Ok, go over the account's history and see if there's any places she likes to hang out," Steve instructed.

"DiNozzo, call the bank the card's registered to, see if you can get us an address for where she's staying in Hawaii," Gibbs ordered.

"On it, Boss," Tony nodded, but before he could head for a computer Kono called him back.

"Wait, I've got her account details here," she stated as she looked closely at what was written on the screen. "Hang on," she selected three payments and enlarged them. "It looks like for the last three months she's been paying $2,100 each month to Pines Real Estate."

"That's the real estate office she, as in Rochelle Clarke, works for," Danny pointed out. "Does it say what the payments were for?"

Kono continued to type for a few moments before answering triumphantly, "For a rental home in Hawai'i Kai; 18 Kanakoa Place."

"Let's go," Steve stated at the same time as Gibbs ordered; "Gear up!"

The two teams followed their orders and moved quickly towards the exit; determination in knowing that at last they had a solid lead.

oOo

The Camaro came to an abrupt halt outside the single story house at 18 Kanakoa place, followed by the loaned sedan and Chin and Kono in her car. Steve and Danny pulled on their Kevlar vests as they exited the car, Chin and Kono doing the same while Gibbs and his team were already wearing their NCIS gear.

"How do you want to play this, Gibbs?" Steve asked the agent, drawing his gun as they approached the house.

"We'll take the front, you take the back," he ordered as he too drew his gun. "McGee, Ziva, cover the garage," he added.

"All right, you got it," Steve acknowledged and then signalled for the rest of his team to move around to the back of the house.

Gibbs took his position at the front door with DiNozzo right behind him with his weapon at the ready. After waiting to give McGarrett and his team enough time to secure the back of the building, Gibbs pounded on the door with his fist.

"Hayden Salisbury, NCIS! Open up!"

Without waiting the required time for her to answer the call, Gibbs kicked open the door with his foot and entered the building, closely followed by Tony.

At the rear of the building, Steve heard Gibbs' yell and followed his lead; kicking in the door as he moved into the house with his team right behind him.

There was no immediate sign of anyone in the house as they swept their guns around what appeared to be a laundry. As they moved out of the room and into a hallway Steve signalled for Chin and Kono to move right towards the bedrooms while he and Danny moved left towards the front of the house. A few rooms away, Gibbs and DiNozzo could be heard as they cleared the front rooms.

Moving into the living room, Steve caught a flash of silver on the far side of the room before yelling, "Gun!" As he ducked behind the closest sofa, Danny doing the same, the air around where they had been only moments earlier erupted with a volley of bullets. Ignoring the broken china and wood splinters in the air, Steve quickly raised himself slightly and got off a few shots of his own over the sofa, before he was forced back down by another volley of bullets.

"I thought we had agreed that if you're gonna shoot first, ask questions later then you'd at least warn me to duck!" Danny took his frustration out on Steve.

"I did warn you," Steve frowned as he reloaded.

"Ah uh, yelling out 'gun' does _not_ classify as a warning, Steven!"

"What did you want, a written report?" The two men flinched slightly as pieces of what used to be the mantelpiece erupted around them.

"Well, you might wanna hold off on the shoot first idea." Danny grabbed Steve's arm before his partner could raise himself to return fire. "She's our only lead so we need to bring her in alive and preferably minus the several bullet holes she's likely to get when you go all Super-SEAL."

Steve frowned at the idea of doing nothing while they were taking fire. He did, however, see Danny's point and held off firing back, knowing that they had more than adequate back-up and it wasn't long before it arrived.

"NCIS! Lower your weapon!" Tony's yell echoed around the room and the shooting came to an abrupt end.

"On the ground!" Gibbs added as he entered the room behind Tony.

Steve and Danny stood up from behind the sofa with their guns raised and saw that the two agents had their shooter covered. Rochelle Clarke glared at the agents as she lowered her weapon to the floor and placed her hands on her head as she stood up again.

Gibbs spared a look at Steve who nodded his thanks as Danny moved up behind Rochelle Clarke to handcuff her while they kept her covered with their weapons. Steve lowered his sig once the handcuffs were on and, pulling a pair of latex gloves from his pocket, bent down to retrieve her gun.

"Sigma 40P," he stated as he recognised the gun model. "Same as our murder weapon," he gave her a hard stare but she didn't waver and kept her head high as she glared back at him, not saying a word. Breaking off eye contact with her, Steve nodded to Danny, "Book her, Danno."

TBC

oOo

_A/N: So who else is excited about the news of more H5-0 and NCIS:LA crossovers on the shows? :D _


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N: Thanks again for the reviews and alerts so far, you guys are awesome! Nice long chapter this time! I hope you enjoy..._

oOo

Gibbs leaned off the wall in the dimly lit interrogation room at Five-0 headquarters as he eyed off their suspect, Rochelle Clarke. She sat with her jaw clenched and chin slightly raised, looking exactly like a person trying to keep it together when the ground was falling out from under them. It was a facade Gibbs had seen many times in an interrogation room over his many years of investigating. He continued to stare at her in an attempt to make her uneasy and uncomfortable and in his peripherals he could see McGarrett doing the same, his arms folded in front of his chest.

Gibbs decided that it was time to break the silence and moved away from the wall slightly as he spoke. "So what is it you want us to call you? Hayden or Rochelle?"

Her eyes flicked away from the wall she had been staring at and towards Gibbs but she still refused to say anything as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Personally, I prefer Rochelle," Steve stated and she directed her glare at him instead. "After all, that is your birth-name, isn't it?"

"Not so talkative, huh?" Gibbs said as she still refused to speak. "Well that's alright, we have enough evidence to do the talking for you."

"You see, the gun we took from you is a match for the one that killed Lieutenant Clarke, your brother." As he spoke, Steve pulled out a picture of Clarke's body from a folder he was carrying and held it up for her to see.

Gibbs studied her closely to see her reaction to the photo, however, close scrutiny wasn't necessary as she drew in a sharp breath and quickly turned her head away from the picture in McGarrett's hand. Gibbs and McGarrett shared a quick look as they finally got a positive reaction out of her.

"And that's not all," Gibbs continued as he slowly walked around into her blind-side. "There was a water bottle found at the crime scene, we managed to match the DNA found around the lid to a sample of your DNA. The water in the bottle contained small amounts of _Cuprom metallicum,_ it's used by Homoepaths as stress relief."

"It wasn't easy killing your brother, was it?" Steve added.

The two investigators let their words sink in for a moment as they watched her closely. After a short while Rochelle Clarke finally broke her silence.

"I didn't want to do it," her voice was quiet and broken but they heard the confession loud and clear. "But he knew too much about what was going on and when he tried to tell you," she glanced briefly at Steve, "they knew they had to stop him before he said too much."

"So why did they have you do it?" Steve questioned. "Why would they risk sending his sister to kill him?"

"Because he's my brother," she said fiercely, her eyes almost glistening, "if anyone was going to do it, it had to be me," she finished quietly.

"And who is they?" Gibbs pushed for her to roll on the arms dealers.

She glanced at Gibbs and scoffed slightly, "They'll kill me if I say anything."

"We can protect you," Steve assured her.

"That's what the cops always say, but it never works out that way, does it? I'm not gonna be the next casualty the police, or the feds," she glanced at Gibbs, "failed to protect. You don't know anything and I plan on keeping it that way."

"We already know you worked for one of their fronts run by a shell corporation when you were living in Ireland and that the company who owns the real estate firm you work for now is owned by the head of the Yakuza in Hawaii." Gibbs moved closer to her as he began to raise his voice. "We know that a shipment came in on the third of this month and we have a witness that can place you at the harbour the day it came in!"

"These people you work for, had you murder your own brother," Steve reminded her. "Are you really going to protect them? And what do you think will happen to you once they find out we have you in custody? Do you really think they'll take the risk that you won't say anything to us?" Steve paused for a moment; he could see he had her thinking. "The way I see it, they're going to target you because of what you know no matter if you tell us or not. The only difference will be if we place you under protection and that all depends on whether or not you decide to help us."

She stared at Steve for a moment and he saw fear flash across her eyes as she took in what he was saying. "You can't do that," she finally managed to say, starting to sound desperate.

"We can, and we will," Gibbs replied, "unless you help us by telling us where the shipment went."

"I don't know where it went!" This time she didn't try to hide the desperation in her claim. "Yes, I'll admit I was there at the docks but I didn't go with the trucks and I have no idea where they were taking it! It was my job to make sure Bryce was sending false reports to the Navy so they had no idea where the shipment was, they didn't tell me anything more than I needed to know."

Gibbs and McGarrett shared another look as they tried to determine if she was telling the truth or not. Deciding to give her the benefit of the doubt for the time being, Steve continued, "What about who? We know Noshimuri owns the company that owns the ship the weapons came in on, but who's behind the shipment?"

She looked down at the floor for a moment before she raised her head and said shakily, "I don't know, I only had contact with one person, via a satellite phone; he was the one who told me Bryce was up to something and that he was off the base that night and that," she paused for a moment as she took a deep breath, "that I had to kill him. He was also the one that requested I was at the docks the day the ship was unloaded, for extra security."

"Who was it?" Gibbs demanded.

"I don't know!" She sounded desperate as she looked to Gibbs, afraid they would carry through on their threat. "He never told me his name or where he was. All I know is he was a man and that he had an American accent."

Steve frowned; an American accent more than likely ruled out Wo Fat as being behind the phone calls, he didn't doubt the man capable of using an accent, however, it didn't seem to match the arms dealer's bold M.O.

"And you never heard anything else?" Gibbs continued in a raised tone. "No names or anything?"

"Wait," she frowned as though trying to remember something. "I did hear a conversation at the docks between two guys from the ship and they mentioned a name. It was by accident, like I said, they didn't want me to know anything more than I needed to. I only know a name, not what he looks like or anything."

"Who is it?" Gibbs pressed when she paused again.

"A man called Wo Fat. From the conversation I over-heard, he's the one the men work for; the man behind the shipment."

Steve couldn't believe their luck as she confirmed their earlier suspicions, finally they had the proof that would link this arms deal to Wo Fat; if they could find him. He looked across at Gibbs and saw that the NCIS agent had the same triumphant look that Steve was sure that he himself had. Without saying another word to her, they quickly exited the interrogation room.

"We've got him," Steve said briefly as they met up with Tony, Ziva and Danny outside interrogation.

"Yeah, we heard," Danny nodded as they walked down the corridor on their way back to their offices.

"We still have to find him and the shipment though and whoever was behind the phone calls," Tony stated as they pushed through the glass doors back into the bullpen.

"Steve," Chin greeted them, "we may have something."

"What is it?" He asked the older man as they approached the smart table, but it was McGee who answered.

"The security guard at the docks said that the shipment was loaded into the back of company trucks; Operations United."

"Yeah," Danny nodded, "we already knew that, what's your point?"

"Well, it turns out the company lo-jack all of their vehicles."

"Can you get their location on the day the shipment came in then?" Gibbs asked.

"Not without company authorisation. And if they're involved in arms dealing I doubt they'll let us into their system," Tim added, frustrated.

"So? Can't you just hack into the system and find out the trucks' location?" Danny frowned.

"I could if it were legal," McGee defended.

"Immunity and means," Steve stated. "Do it."

After a nod of confirmation from Gibbs, McGee started typing. After just a few moments he announced, "Ok, I'm in."

"Search for any trucks that were at the docks the day the ship was unloaded," Gibbs instructed as he leaned over McGee to watch the screen.

"The third of this month," Steve supplied.

McGee's fingers flew over the keyboard as he attempted to locate the information. "Alright, it looks like there were six trucks with the GPS location that places them at Honolulu Harbour on the third."

"Where did they head to after that?" Tony pressed.

"I'm searching for that now," Tim continued to type for several minutes while the remaining team members' held their breath slightly in anticipation.

"Ok, I've got it! Looks like all six trucks drove to a warehouse at 96 Waihona Street in Pearl City and were there for just over an hour."

"Good work, McGee," Gibbs stated as he stood up straight. "Let's roll," he addressed the rest of the group.

"Kono, call HPD, tell them to have SWAT meet us at the address," Steve ordered as the two teams exited the office.

"On it, Boss," she confirmed as she pulled out her cell phone.

"Wow, shouting breakfast and now calling for back-up? This is a day of firsts," Danny raised his eyebrows at his partner as they quickly moved down the stairs towards the exit.

"If we're right about Wo Fat being behind this arms deal it's possible he'll be at the warehouse and if that's the case I'm not giving him the opportunity to escape," Steve stated, determination clear in his voice.

Danny nodded, understanding his partner's determination at wanting to put his parents' murderer behind bars; it was a sentiment they all shared. "What about the weapons? Do you think they'll still be at the warehouse?"

"It's only been a few days; moving it too soon after it arrived would draw unwanted attention," Steve explained as they exited the building and headed to their cars.

"What about the guy Rochelle Clarke said was contacting her," Tony asked looking from Gibbs to McGarrett, "do you reckon he'll be there?"

"It's possible," Gibbs conceded.

"If not we should be able to find him through his sat phone," Chin added.

"How long will it take to get to Pearl City?" Gibbs enquired of the locals.

"About twenty minutes," Chin replied.

Several members of both teams had to stifle a laugh as Danny and Tony muttered at the same time;

"Not with Steve driving."

"Not with Gibbs driving."

Both team leaders replied by giving the speaker a small, frustrated frown before heading to the driver's side of their respective vehicles. The rest of the team members attempted to straighten their faces before following suit and getting in the cars.

_*Flash-back*_

"_Thanks for bringing me in on this," Lieutenant McGarrett stated from the passenger seat of Gibbs' sedan as they watched the activity at the private air-strip from the darkness of the car._

_It hadn't taken long for Lieutenant Griffith to realise that he was the focus of NCIS's investigation into Colley's murder and had disappeared shortly after Steve's release from Leavenworth. The lieutenant, however, clearly hadn't anticipated them to have uncovered his off-shore bank account so quickly and had used it to book a flight on a private plane out of the country scheduled to leave at midnight that night. It was the same air-strip that Gibbs and McGarrett were currently staked out at._

"_It's the least I could do," Gibbs stated by way of an apology as he took a sip of coffee. He was doing this as much for himself as he was for McGarrett; his investigation into the lieutenant had revealed an interesting not to mention impressive record and he was more than willing to partner up briefly with the lieutenant to take down the man responsible for setting McGarrett up._

"_I heard NCIS is in the process of shutting down the shell corporation run by Hesse; Faraday Brothers Incorporated," Steve continued as he glanced at Gibbs._

_Gibbs nodded. "We're co-ordinating with Irish authorities; apparently they've been suspicious of the company for some time but didn't have the evidence until now."_

_Steve nodded in satisfaction as he turned his gaze back to the airstrip seeking out any sign of Lieutenant Griffith, seeing nothing he leaned back slightly in his seat and sighed. "I don't know how you cops do it, you know; all this sitting around doing nothing but watching."_

"_It can take some getting used to; making the transition from the service," Gibbs conceded before continuing, "your father seemed to make the transition fine."_

_Steve frowned as he quickly looked back at the agent, wondering briefly if he somehow knew his father, before he remembered that Gibbs would have read his personnel file during the investigation. Looking away again Steve responded, "Well it was a career path he's always advised me against," he allowed himself to admit to the older man. "And one I never intend to make; I could never leave the service." Steve fell silent again, not wanting to admit anymore to the man who was practically a stranger to him and his strained relationship with his father was certainly something he didn't want to be thinking about right now._

_Movement at the airstrip caught both their attention as an unmarked car pulled up near to where the private plane sat on the air-strip._

"_This could be him," Gibbs stated as he glanced at his watch, noticing that it was a quarter to twelve._

_Relieved to put an end to their previous conversation, Steve put a pair of night vision binoculars to his eyes and focused on the man stepping out of the car, taking in his dress shirt and briefcase along with his dark hair and tall build. "That's him," Steve confirmed, anger boiling in his gut as he watched the man who had set him up; someone he had worked with and trusted._

"_Griffith just arrived," Gibbs spoke into his ear-piece to inform the two other NCIS agents on the far side of the air-strip of Griffith's arrival._

_Steve heard Gibbs opening the driver's side door and did the same, keeping his hand ready on the weapon in his holster. As they walked through the side gate that had been left open for them and leads onto the airstrip, the two men drew their guns making sure to keep to the shadows. They moved stealthily beside the large hangar that the plane and the car were located by._

_Steve tried to move in front of Gibbs to take point, adrenaline making his heart race at the thought of the confrontation to come, Gibbs however, kept the lieutenant back behind him, knowing that the younger man would most likely be acting on instinct when he confronted the man who had set him up and Gibbs wanted Griffith in handcuffs, not a body bag. Steve frowned and grated his teeth together in frustration but unwillingly fell in behind the agent; this wasn't an enemy that needed to be neutralised, this was a murderer that needed to be arrested and as much as McGarrett wanted to take charge he knew the marine turned agent had more experience in this circumstance._

_Gibbs brought them to a halt at the end of the hangar before speaking into his ear-piece again, "Pacci we're in position, how far out are you?"_

"_One minute," came the reply._

_Steve heard the reply and frowned at the delay, keeping his eyes on Griffith and the two men he had with him as they spoke to a man who looked like the pilot; fortunately, it didn't appear that they were in a hurry to get going._

_Gibbs could feel the tension in McGarrett behind him as he waited for confirmation that the other agents were in position. After what felt like forever, he heard the whispered response; "Ok, Gibbs, we're in position. Waiting for your order."_

"_Move in now!" Gibbs ordered before he and Steve moved quickly out of the shadows with their guns raised in front of them, slowing down just meters from the car._

"_NCIS! Freeze!" Gibbs yelled as they made their approach, Steve moving up to stand beside him, his aim never wavering from Griffith's chest. The other two NCIS agents approached from the opposite side of the plane._

_The four men were fast to react and had their own weapons drawn as Gibbs ordered them to freeze and a volley of bullets in Gibbs' and McGarrett's direction sent them diving for the cover of the car after getting a few shots off themselves. A sharp cry of pain and a thump let them know that at least one shot had found its mark, however, the retreating figure of Griffith let them know it wasn't the lieutenant that was down._

"_I've got Griffith," Steve didn't give the agent time to protest as he moved quickly to the far side of the car they were behind and took off across the landing strip, keeping close to the front of the hangar._

_Gibbs didn't say anything as he stood over the top of the car and fired several more rounds to cover McGarrett's exit._

_Steve easily closed some of the gap between himself and Griffith but the man somehow managed to stay several strides in front as they moved along the side of the hangar. With Griffith still too far in front to attempt to tackle him to the ground, Steve glanced to his right and spotted a few crates next to a large industrial bin against the hangar. Seeing this as his chance he changed his direction slightly and headed for them, holstering his gun as he ran. Keeping Griffith within his sight to be sure he would be within reach, Steve leapt onto a crate and with one big stride was on top of the industrial bin. Confident that Griffith was now in reach, Steve launched himself off the edge of the bin and towards Griffith and moments later collided heavily with the other man, his hands grabbing Griffith's shoulders as they fell forward to the ground._

_They hit the ground hard and Steve heard the air leaving Griffith's lungs as he was winded by the additional weight of Steve landing on top of him. Steve took advantage of Griffith's vulnerability and grabbed his hands to pull them up behind his back, intending to hold the lieutenant in place until Gibbs arrived to make the arrest. Griffith, however, had other plans and quickly recovered from the hard landing, bucking hard and causing Steve to lose his balance allowing him to push him off of himself and roll away slightly._

_Steve quickly jumped to his feet as he saw Griffith doing the same and turned in time to block a right hook as it swung towards his face, pushing it to the side and following through with his left fist which connected hard against Griffith's jaw. The men had had similar training and were almost the same in build but Steve was pissed and there was no way he was letting Griffith get the better of him. As Griffith was recovering from the blow to the jaw Steve followed it up with an impressive round-house kick that ploughed into Griffith's midsection. As he was winded again Griffith threw another desperate punch in McGarrett's direction hoping to land a lucky shot, instead Steve grabbed his arm and turned so that Griffith was behind him then flipped him over his shoulder and brought him down hard on the ground._

_Still refusing to give up, Griffith rolled to his side and attempted to get to his feet but Steve's boot to his ribs brought a grunt of pain from him as he rolled back onto his back and the same boot came to press heavily on his chest, pinning him to the ground. Drawing his gun, Steve pointed it at Griffith's head, his aim unwavering as he stared coldly at the man who'd set him up._

_Griffith smiled up at Steve, his mouth red with blood from a split lip, he laughed slightly as he stared at the man with the gun pointed to his head. "Go ahead and do it, McGarrett," he taunted. "I know you want to."_

_Steve grit his teeth together in anger and pressed his foot harder into the man's chest, satisfied when Griffith had to bite back a grunt of pain. He'd like nothing more than to shoot the traitor, he could easily claim it was in self-defence but Gibbs had brought him in on this under the proviso that Griffith was brought in alive and he owed it to the agent to follow his instructions._

"_You're not worth the bullet," Steve spat as he saw Gibbs approaching their position with his gun raised._

"_McGarrett?" Gibbs called out as he approached the two men, unsure if the lieutenant was going to pull the trigger or not. He got his answer when he came to stand by McGarrett and he heard him put the safety back on his gun. Gibbs lowered his gun as he looked to McGarrett, "Nice job, Lieutenant."_

"_You got a spare pair of handcuffs?" Steve asked, still not lowering his gun or taking his foot off Griffith's chest._

_Gibbs smiled slightly and pulled out a pair of handcuffs and passed them to Steve, allowing him the task of cuffing Griffith._

_Steve holstered his weapon as he took the handcuffs from Gibbs and moved his foot off Griffith's chest. Bending down, Steve flipped Griffith onto his stomach as he pulled his hands behind his back and slapped the cuffs on, giving a small smile of satisfaction as they tightened around the lieutenant's wrists._

_Leaving him on the ground for the time being, Steve stood and turned to Gibbs. "Did you catch the other three?"_

_Gibbs nodded. "Two are in handcuffs, the pilot's waiting for a bus to take him to the hospital; he took a bullet to the shoulder."_

"_So what now?" Steve frowned slightly as he asked the agent._

_Gibbs looked down at Griffith before answering, "We book him."_

_*End Flashback*_

oOo

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

oOo

After less than twenty minutes, Steve brought the Camaro to an abrupt stop just a few meters around the corner from the fence surrounding the warehouse and he and Danny quickly stepped out of the car as Gibbs' and Kono's cars pulled up behind them, a SWAT van arriving just a minute later.

They surveyed the building quickly, seeing a large lower level and a half second level above it but no overt signs of anything suspicious. The two teams assembled around the cars with the SWAT leader joining them as the rest of his team checked their equipment.

"Ok, here's how this is going to work," Steve started as he addressed the assembled group. "Danny and I will take the top level with Gibbs and DiNozzo," he glanced briefly at Gibbs who gave a small nod of agreement, "Chin, Kono, David and McGee will take the lower level. Sergeant," he turned to the SWAT leader, "I want two of your men up top with us and the rest to clear the lower level, understood?"

"Yes, Sir," he replied before moving to the rest of his team to relay their orders.

"One more thing," Steve added, making sure the SWAT team were able to hear his orders. "If our intel is correct and Wo Fat is behind this then it's possible he'll be in the building. If that's the case he is to be taken in alive, is that understood?" He asked, sounding every bit like the Commander he was.

His order was greeted by several "Yes, Sir" 's from the SWAT team and nods of confirmation from his and Gibbs' team.

"Good, let's move in," he instructed. He nodded at the SWAT leader who had a pair of wire cutters to cut the chain that locked the gates leading to the warehouse.

Several members of the SWAT team led the way through the gates with both teams following behind them with their guns raised. When they reached the first door of the warehouse two SWAT members broke off from the rest of the group joined by Steve, Danny, Gibbs and Tony as they made their way to the metal staircase that led to the second level. Half the remaining SWAT team along with Chin and Kono broke off as well and moved to cover the back of the warehouse where the loading bay was, leaving Ziva and McGee at the front with three SWAT members.

The landing that gained access to the door to the second level was only a few meters across and could only fit the two SWAT members, forcing the remaining four to line up on the stairs with their weapons held at the ready.

"We're in position," Steve spoke into his earpiece from his position behind the second SWAT agent.

"As are we," came Ziva's reply from the front of the building.

"We're almost there," Chin stated as they reached the back of the building and the empty loading bay came into sight. The two SWAT agents took up position on either side of the rolling door and Chin and Kono also split up to stand behind them. Chin raised his shotgun as he spoke into his mic. "In position, Steve."

"Ok, move in," Steve nodded to the SWAT agent at the door as he spoke into his mic to the rest of the teams who were in position.

The locks on the doors exploded with a bang and the two SWAT members advanced into the room closely followed by the four men. The room they found themselves in was a mostly empty space with a balcony on their left that looked over the rest of the warehouse below on the first floor and had several offices to their right.

As expected, their less than quiet entry immediately brought the occupants attention to their presence and the leading SWAT agent took down a heavily armed man who appeared to be on sentry by the railing before he was able to fire his raised weapon.

As shooting also broke out on the lower level, more armed men appeared at the windows of the offices, forcing them to find cover behind what little equipment occupied the space they found themselves in.

"Anyone got eyes on Wo Fat?" Gibbs yelled into his earpiece as he took cover behind a stack of crates with DiNozzo.

Tony fired a few more shots in the direction of the offices before yelling over the top of the gunfight, "Not yet!"

"Negative!" Came McGarrett's shouted reply from where he and Danny were returning fire from behind some stacked oil drums by the flight of stairs that led to the lower level. "I need to get into those offices!" He added.

"I suppose you wouldn't be talking about the offices that are filled with men who are currently trying to kill us?" Danny voiced his objection to what no doubt would be one of his partner's crazy plans.

"If Wo Fat's here he's more than likely to be in one of those offices. I need to get in there," he repeated.

"And just how do you plan on getting _to_ said offices; there's no cover between here and them. And before you ask; no! You may not use me as a personal shield!"

Steve paused for a moment and frowned thoughtfully at Danny's words, a look appearing on his face that his partner was none too happy to see.

"Uh uh uh, don't make that face! Is it not bad enough that we're already being shot at that you have to come up with one of your crazy plans?"

Ignoring his partner's rant, Steve glanced to their left where the man the SWAT agent had taken down with a headshot was lying only a yard or so from their cover.

"Cover me for a second," Steve instructed as he holstered his gun quickly.

"What are you doing?" Danny didn't have time to wait for a response as Steve began to move from behind their cover and he returned fire towards the offices to cover him. Aware of what was going on, Gibbs and Tony also fired a series of more rounds at their shooters.

Staying crouched low, Steve quickly moved out from behind the barrels and grabbed the booted foot of the downed man and dragged him back with impossible ease to where Danny was now re-loading his gun.

"What are you _doing_?" Danny stared at his partner in confusion and moved over slightly to allow room for Steve and his _companion_ behind their cover.

"Finding some cover," Steve stated, making Danny frown slightly in disgust.

"Are you serious? Are you really gonna..." there was no need for him to continue his question as Steve grabbed the strap at the top of the man's Kevlar vest in his left hand to pull him up.

Steve ignored him; he knew this wasn't the greatest plan he'd ever had but it was the only way he could see himself making it into the offices minus several bullet holes. He looked over the top of the barrels at the closest window and saw the wooden chair and table pushed up against the wall there. _Perfect_, he thought. "Cover me," Steve stated again as he got to his feet, pulling the man's body up with him.

"Why do you need me for that when you've got this guy for that," Danny muttered but prepared himself to fire over the top of the barrels.

"Now," Steve ordered as he pulled the man up to cover him as he moved out from behind their cover. His left arm muscles strained with the effort of holding him up in front of him; the man was heavy but Steve had carried heavier men longer distances before. He felt several bullets hit the body despite the cover provided by Danny, Gibbs and DiNozzo and he raised his gun with his right hand and fired several shots at the window he was moving towards.

Steve saw the chair just in front of him and he quickly moved to it and with a long stride was on top of it and, still holding the man up for cover, stepped on the window sill and dropped into the office, depositing the man's body on top of the nearest shooter.

Steve recovered more quickly than the only other shooter in this office who had been taken by surprise by his less than text-book entry and Steve took him down with a double-tap to the chest before taking care of the other man still struggling to remove the other man's body from him.

Steve swept the room quickly with his eyes and gun and a door leading out of the office at the back caught his attention. "There's another room leading off from this office," he reported over his com, "I'm moving in," he added as he moved to the doorway and stepped through. He emerged into what looked like some sort of meeting room with an old, metal table in the centre of the room with some sheets of paper scatted across it and some chairs littered here and there around the room.

Movement at the back of the room caught Steve's attention as he caught a glimpse of the back of a man as he quickly retreated from where he had been taking cover to an exterior fire escape located at the back of the room. Steve felt a flicker of excitement as he noticed the man's Asian appearance and he quickly chased after the man as he disappeared out the fire escape, speaking into his com as he went, "In pursuit of an Asian man, I haven't ID'd him but it could be Wo Fat."

He heard Gibb's voice reply in his earpiece, "Copy, we're moving into the offices now." Then he pulled open the door to the fire escape and followed the suspect out, hoping that it was Wo Fat. Once outside, Steve found himself on a metal landing with a ladder attached to it that stopped about five feet before it touched the ground and he saw the top of the dark head of the suspect as he descended the ladder, almost at the bottom now.

Steve quickly holstered his gun and swung himself over the edge and grabbed the side of the ladder, taking the fast way down by sliding down the ladder instead of using the rungs. He hit the ground only a few seconds after the suspect and drew his gun again as he took off after the man.

The suspect wasn't very fast and the fact that he hadn't tried to fire on Steve made him suspect that he wasn't armed and Steve began to doubt whether the man he was chasing was Wo Fat, sure that the arms dealer would be armed. The chase across the empty lot had also given Steve a better chance to see the man's build and he noticed a significant difference in build to Wo Fat.

With only a foot between them now, Steve reached forward and grabbed the man's shirt, pulling him down to the ground with him and they both hit the ground hard. Steve didn't let go of the man's shirt and he started to struggle as Steve got a strong grip on his arms and pulled out a pair of handcuffs from his belt, quickly tightening them around the man's wrists. Once the suspect was secure, Steve rolled him onto his back to see who it was he had chased down.

oOo

Back behind the barrels after Steve's departure, there wasn't a lot Danny could do after Steve had made his maniacal run into the office and taken out both shooters. The men in the office who were still firing at Gibbs and DiNozzo were both well hidden from his line of fire. Deciding that he was most needed downstairs where it sounded like most of the shooting was coming from, he spoke into his ear-piece. "I'm moving downstairs," he stated mostly to let Gibbs and DiNozzo know where he was going; once they had taken out the last two men they would be free to follow Steve's tracks but until they had done so, Danny had no way of getting into the offices; the shooters may have been out of his range but it certainly wasn't the case the other way round.

Gibbs heard Danny and nodded to him as Tony managed to clip one of the shooters in the shoulder, "Go!" He ordered, "We'll cover McGarrett!"

Danny nodded his thanks before turning to the metal staircase that their cover had been located by. He cautiously made his way down the stairs, leading with his gun. As he reached the landing between levels one of the shooters came into view as he was firing rounds at several of the crates that had the weapons stored in them which Ziva was using as cover. Before Danny could react the shooter fired another shot in Ziva's direction and managed to hit the Mossad Officer near the shoulder.

Ziva gasped briefly as the bullet clipped her upper right arm and she lost grip of her gun and it fell to the floor beside her. She ducked back behind the crates in order to regroup herself.

Danny saw her take cover and fired three shots at the shooter, hitting him twice in the chest before he ran down the remaining stairs and quickly made his way to Ziva's position.

By the time he reached the crates, Ziva had already re-gathered her weapon in her left hand and appeared completely calm as she swept the area the shooter had been with as much ease as if she still held her gun in her dominant hand. _God, is Super-SEALism contagious? _Danny thought briefly as he crouched behind the crates with her.

"Hey, you ok?" Danny asked as he looked at the wound that was still bleeding down her arm.

"I am fine," she stated quickly, swapping her gun back to her right hand and grabbing her arm in an attempt to stop the bleeding now that she knew their position was secure.

Watching her efforts, Danny placed his gun on the floor between them and pulled off his tie from under his vest, "Here, let me."

Seeing what the detective was doing, Ziva moved her left hand out of the way so Danny could wrap the tie around her arm to function as a tourniquet. Once tied above the wound, Danny wrapped the remaining material over the jagged cut in her arm.

"Thank you, Detective," she stated, barely flinching as he finished his work.

"You're welcome and it's Danny, by the way," he flashed her a quick smile as he retrieved his gun from the floor.

Ziva quickly returned his smile as they both popped their heads over the crates. Most of the shooting seemed to be coming from the back of the warehouse now, though it wasn't as intense as it had been when they had first made their entry.

Danny could hear Chin's shotgun somewhere to their right and further into the warehouse, under the second level. Looking over to Ziva, who now showed no sign that she had been shot, he indicated for them to move in that direction.

She nodded and the pair moved out from behind their cover and slowly crept through the maze of wooden crates containing the weapons towards the sound of the gunshots. The sound of machine gun fire close by had them both stop in their tracks as they attempted to locate the source of the shooting. It wasn't hard to locate as both their eyes were drawn to a stack of crates twenty or so yards to their left where a shooter was positioned behind the crates as he fired in the direction of Chin and several SWAT agents.

Any plans they may have had of taking him alive were ruined when bad timing saw the shooter run out of ammo and he caught a glimpse of Danny and Ziva as he turned and picked up the machine gun dropped by his downed companion. The man quickly brought his gun up in their direction and they were forced to return fire, shots from both Ziva and Danny's weapons finding their mark.

Several moments later more shooting that had been coming from another area on the first level came to an end and the warehouse was silent.

"We're clear here," McGee's voice crackled through their earpiece as Danny and Ziva joined Chin and the three SWAT agents who had been pinned behind the crates.

"Yeah, same here," Danny replied. "We've got at least three dead shooters on our end. Did you manage to grab any alive?"

"No," McGee replied as he looked around at the three men that he and the remaining SWAT agents plus Kono had taken down. "We've got three dead on our end too."

"We're coming round the front now with one of the suspects," Gibbs' voice joined their conversation, "he's alive."

oOo

Back on the second level, Gibbs managed to hit the second shooter in the chest just moments after Tony had clipped the first shooter in the shoulder. As they advanced from behind their cover they heard McGarrett's yell through their earpiece, "In pursuit of an Asian man, I haven't ID'd him but it could be Wo Fat."

"Copy, we're moving into the offices now." Gibbs replied as they came to the door of the office next to the shattered window where the shooters had been located. Gibbs pushed the door open with his foot and he and Tony quickly entered and swept the room with their guns, wary of the wounded shooter.

Tony's eyes came to rest on the hunched form of the man he'd shot in the shoulder, noticing the large amount of blood and on second glance he realised that he'd managed to hit him closer to the neck than he had first realised. He quickly walked up to him and bent down to check for a pulse but didn't feel any beat beneath his fingers.

"He's dead," he reported to Gibbs as he stood up again, "must've hit the artery."

"Let's hope McGarrett takes his down alive then," Gibbs stated as they moved quickly out of the room via a door at the back and entered the same meeting room McGarrett had moved through before. Both agents kept their guns raised as they made their way through to the room towards the fire escape at the back. Pulling the door open, Gibbs moved outside onto the landing with DiNozzo in time to see McGarrett tackle the suspect to the ground.

Wanting to make sure the suspect would be in one piece, Gibbs looked down at the ladder and quickly started his descent, sliding down the last few rungs before hitting the ground, Tony not far behind.

The two NCIS agents approached with their guns raised but lowered them as they saw that McGarrett had the suspect in handcuffs. They watched as McGarrett flipped the suspect onto his back and stood up as he looked down at the man they had arrested.

"Is it Wo Fat?" Gibbs called out as they were both too far away from them to see his face.

Steve turned around at the sound of Gibbs' voice, "No." Both agents clearly saw the frustration in his expression as they came to stand beside him.

"Well maybe this guy knows where he is," Tony looked down at their suspect who was Asian but appeared as though he was only in his twenties.

"I'm not telling you cops nuthin," he glared at them as Tony leaned down to grab the man's arm and pulled him to his feet.

"That's a double negative," Tony remarked once the suspect was standing, "What you meant to say was 'I'm not telling you cops _anything_'. And it's agents, by the way and you're under arrest," he finished as he began to read him his rights.

"We're clear here." They heard McGee report through the coms.

"Yeah, same here," came Danny's reply. "We've got at least three dead shooters on our end. Did you manage to grab any alive?"

"No, we've got three dead on our end too."

"We're coming round the front now with one of the suspects," Gibbs reported as the three men started walking back to where the cars were parked out the front of the building's gates. "He's alive."

"Great, we'll meet you out the front," Danny answered as the remaining team members and SWAT agents started exiting the building.

By the time McGarrett, Gibbs and DiNozzo made it back to the cars with the suspect the rest of their teams were already assembled there.

Gibbs frowned when he caught sight of Ziva's arm which, despite Danny's tie, was still bleeding slightly down her arm. "You okay, Ziva?"

"I'm fine, Gibbs," she nodded, "It is just a scratch; believe me, I have had worse. Danny has already called for some paramedics anyway."

Steve noticed the tie wrapped around Ziva's arm and grinned as he looked at his partner, "So they are useful for something." He also hadn't failed to notice Ziva's use of Danny's first name instead of Detective Williams.

Danny scowled at him, "I'll have you know that that's the fifth tie that's been ruined since I met you, I won't have any left to wear before long. Then again, that was probably your plan all along."

Steve smiled in response. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't," Danny dismissed the argument. "He tell you anything about Wo Fat?" Danny nodded to Tony who was still gripping the suspect's arm.

"Not yet," he replied. "Just wait 'til we get him back to interrogation."

"What about all the weapons we found in the warehouse?" Ziva asked.

"I'll have Chin call HPD and get them to send a unit over to start processing the place," Steve explained but looked at Chin as he said it who nodded and moved away to make the phone call. "In the meantime, let's find out what our suspect knows about Wo Fat and where he might be hiding." Relishing the opportunity to say it twice in one day, Steve looked over to his partner. "Book 'em, Danno."

"Really, Steven? Twice in one day?" Danny frowned at him as the NCIS agents within earshot frowned curiously at the in-joke.

"Who's Danno?" Tony asked as the curiosity got the better of him.

"Don't ask!" Danny pointed his finger at Tony then to Steve, "Don't tell!"

Steve grinned as Danny led the suspect away and unceremoniously shoved him into the cramped space in the back of the Camaro before settling himself in the passenger seat. "It's a sensitive point," Steve replied to the curious glances in his direction with a shrug and a smirk as he walked over to the driver's side of the Camaro to escort their suspect back to HQ.

TBC

oOo


	13. Chapter 13

_A/N: Up to the second last chapter now! :) Thanks for following with the story so far and a big thanks for the reviews!_

oOo

The door to the interrogation roomed slammed shut as Gibbs and McGarrett entered, the latter staying back as he leaned against the wall and glared menacingly at their suspect.

"Here's how this is going to work," Gibbs started as he marched up to the chair the suspect was handcuffed to. "You're going to tell us exactly where your boss is or I'm going to switch off that camera and leave you with the Commander here for a few minutes," Gibbs gestured to where McGarrett was leaning against the wall looking threatening.

The suspect smiled slightly, "You can't do that, I'm not saying anything," he smirked.

"Ok then, DiNozzo?" Gibbs glanced at the security camera in the corner of the room then gestured for him to turn off the camera by making a cutting motion with his hand over his neck. "Oh and I just want you to know that the Naval officer your people had murdered used to serve with him," he added as he nodded at Steve. Gibbs turned and headed for the exit, pausing by Steve he said, "He's all yours."

Steve smirked, thoroughly enjoying the good cop, bad cop routine they had worked up and handing his gun and badge over to Gibbs as he passed; the action making their suspect look extremely nervous.

"You can't do this!" He repeated, "It's police brutality!"

Steve's smirk grew as he moved away from the wall and he spoke, "Police brutality, huh? That's not what I'd call it, I'd call it you tried to escape and I did whatever was necessary to stop you. That's what we'll file it as anyway."

Steve took another step forward as Gibbs exited the room and went to shut the door behind him. Watching him exit, the suspect gave Steve another nervous glance then yelled out before Gibbs could shut the door.

"Wait!" Gibbs paused in the doorway and the suspect looked back at Steve again, noticing the way the SEAL's eyes seemed to burn into him and decided that the man would probably make good on his threat. "Ok, ok, I'll answer your questions. Just get him the hell away from me!" He nodded at Steve.

Steve smiled and moved back to lean against the wall again as Gibbs re-entered the room.

"Where's your boss?" Gibbs didn't waste any time as he came to stand in front of the suspect.

"I don't know."

Without hesitation, Gibbs turned around to leave again and nodded at McGarrett who took a step forward again.

"Wait, wait, wait!" The guy yelled, "I'm telling the truth! I don't know where he is!"

"You're lying," Steve raised his voice as he approached the suspect. "Now where is he? Where's Wo Fat? Why wasn't he at the warehouse?" Steve leaned over as he yelled in front of the suspect's face.

The suspect seemed confused as he leaned back in his chair to put as much distance between himself and McGarrett as he could. "Wo Fat? Why would he have been at the warehouse?"

Steve and Gibbs exchanged a quick look, surprised by the man's question.

"Because it was his shipment of weapons that was stored there," Gibbs wasn't so sure his statement was true now even as he said it but he wanted to see what reaction he would get from their suspect. "We have a witness who was at the docks the day the shipment came in that over-heard that you work for Wo Fat; that he's behind this shipment."

"Wait, wait," the man shook his head before looking up to Gibbs. "You have this all wrong."

"What are you talking about?" Steve frowned. "Are you saying you don't work for Wo Fat?"

"I _do_ work for Wo Fat but this shipment isn't his."

"Then whose is it? And if it isn't Wo Fat's then why were you on the ship?" Gibbs pressed.

"From what I was told, Wo Fat was approached by someone who needed a way to move a large shipment of weapons, someone new who didn't have the man-power himself. So Wo Fat got him a ship and hired us out to him for the job; all he gets is a percentage of the profits made on the weapons but they're not his."

Steve and Gibbs were silent for a moment as they took in what the man was saying.

"Then who is behind this shipment?" Steve recovered quickly from the man's shock statement.

"I told you, I don't know. We never met him, he only ever contacted us via a satellite phone."

"Satellite phone?" Gibbs repeated, glancing at Steve.

"Yeah, that's what I said," he watched the look exchanged between the two investigators.

Gibbs and McGarrett didn't wait for the man to finish his sentence before they exited the room, once again meeting up with the others, minus McGee and Kono, in the corridor outside interrogation on their way back to the offices.

"You thinking what I'm thinking, Boss?" Tony asked as he fell in step behind Gibbs.

"Yeah," Gibbs nodded, "Whoever's behind the phone calls to Clarke's sister is the same guy running this arms deal. How's McGee going with tracing it?"

"I don't know," he replied.

"Let's go find out," Steve stated as they entered the main office space of headquarters.

McGee and Kono looked up briefly from the smart table as the rest of the teams entered the room. Gibbs called out to them, "Have you traced the number Clarke gave you for the sat phone yet?"

"Just a few more minutes," McGee didn't look up this time as his fingers flew over the touch-screen. "I'm trying to access the phones logs to find the satellite coordinates when the calls were made."

"Did you get a location for Wo Fat?" Kono looked up at Steve.

"No, he's not the one behind the shipment," he replied, causing Kono to frown.

"If Wo Fat isn't behind the shipment then who is?" She asked Steve, though it was Danny who answered.

"Well, from what our suspect said, the same guy who's behind these phone calls is the guy calling all the shots."

"Were you able to find anything from the weapons we found at the warehouse?" Steve asked.

"Well the serial numbers on all of the weapons recovered from the warehouse have been filed off so we didn't get any leads there but we did manage to get a match from one of the guys killed in the raid. Meet Lieutenant J.G, Mitchell Watson," she flicked his service photo and record onto the TV screen.

"The guy was Navy?" Tony frowned.

"What's he doing running in the same circle as Wo Fat?" Steve asked.

"That's a good question," Kono stated before continuing, "Watson was a supply officer stationed over-seas, assigned to the naval base in Rota, Spain. He requested reassignment back to the States then went AWOL just a week after his transfer three weeks ago."

"Wait," Gibbs frowned, "You said this guy was a supply officer?"

Kono nodded.

"Did he have access to the weapons that moved in and out of the base at Rota?"

"Yeah, he was in charge of all the supplies, which would have given him access to all of the logs," Kono stated slowly as she realised what Gibbs was insinuating.

"So you think this guy falsified the logs and pocketed some of the guns that were meant for the navy?" Danny asked.

"It's the perfect position to be in to slowly build up a cache of weapons," Steve stated, "And we know that the shipment originated from Europe."

"Well seeing as how we found Watson at the warehouse _with_ the weapons, it could be possible that he was the one behind the phone calls to both Rochelle Clarke and Wo Fat's men," Ziva stated.

"I'm not so sure," Chin didn't agree with her statement. "The man we're looking for would have to be higher up than that to have connections to someone like Wo Fat; Watson's just some supply officer, I doubt he would have come up with the scam by himself."

"Right," Steve nodded, "It's more likely that he was approached by someone else, possibly a superior officer, who set him up for the job. Kono, find out who all of his commanding officers were in the past eighteen months."

"Yeah, I'm on it," she went back into her office as McGee was still searching for the satellite coordinates.

Everyone's focus shifted back to McGee as he announced, "Ok, I've got the satellite coordinates for when the phone calls were made." A map appeared on the screen in front of him and dots appeared to pinpoint the location of the calls. "Huh," McGee frowned as he looked at them, "It looks like most of the calls were made out at sea; the Pacific Ocean."

"And Pearl Harbour," Ziva commented as she studied a large cluster of dots that appeared where the harbour was. "They're on board a navy vessel."

"Wait a minute," Steve stated, a slight, humourless smile forming as he realised something obvious. "Rochelle Clarke said that whoever was making the phone calls to her knew that Clarke was up to something and that he was off the ship the night he came to see me."

"So?" Danny frowned at his partner.

"So if he knew that Clarke was up to something then he would have to have been close to him to monitor his movements," he explained.

"Someone on the _Enterprise_," McGee surmised.

"Yeah," Steve nodded, "and I think I have an idea who."

"And who might that be?" Danny asked as he looked to Steve. Before Steve had a chance to answer, however, Kono emerged from her office holding her computer tablet.

"Boss, I got that list you wanted and one of Watson's postings stands out; he was stationed on board the _Enterprise_ for a year before he requested a transfer to Rota nine months ago and his C.O who signed off on it..." She flicked a service photo to the screens for them to see.

Steve nodded as the picture confirmed his suspicions and he turned to Danny and Gibbs, "Looks like we're heading back to Pearl."

oOo

Steve, Danny, Gibbs and Tony wasted no time getting to the _Enterprise_ and were soon walking onto the bridge of the ship to be greeted by Captain Johnson.

"Commander McGarrett," he frowned slightly as the four men approached him. "I wasn't expecting to see you back here so soon. Is this still in relation to Lieutenant Clarke's murder?"

"Yeah it is," Steve confirmed, "do you mind if we have a word in private."

"Not at all, my quarters are this way," he indicated the direction with his hand.

Steve watched the Captain's demeanour as he followed him through the halls of the ship towards his quarters; he seemed relaxed and Steve was certain he had no idea as to the real reason why they were here. They reached the door to his quarters and Johnson opened it and walked in with the rest of the men following after him.

"What exactly did you want to discuss, Gentlemen?" He asked once they were all inside the room.

"We were able to track the weapons Lt. Clarke was monitoring to a warehouse in Pearl City," Gibbs informed him, watching Johnson closely and to the man's credit he didn't react to the news.

"Excellent, did you manage to recover all the weapons?"

"Yeah we did," Danny nodded as he perched himself on the edge of the desk in the room. "We also managed to get all the guys who were at the warehouse with them. Most of them ended up in the morgue," he admitted with a tip of his head, "but the guy we grabbed alive certainly had a lot to say."

"Though one of the stiffs in the morgue probably told us a whole lot more," Tony added as he pulled out a service photo and placed in on the table top near Johnson for him to see. "Lieutenant J.G Mitchell Watson," he slid the photo closer to Captain Johnson.

Johnson shrugged slightly as he looked at the service photo, "He looks slightly familiar, who is he?"

"He was stationed here on the _Enterprise_ nine months ago," Steve explained, "before you approved his transfer to Rota nine months ago."

"And what does he have to do with all of this?"

"He was the supply officer for the base at Rota," Tony stated, "managed to falsify the logs of the weapons that moved in and out of the base and build himself a nice stash of weapons meant for the Navy."

"And you think that's where the shipment of weapons Clarke was tracking originated from?" Johnson asked.

Gibbs nodded. "Our people are looking into the logs now to find the discrepancies in the paper work."

"And you said you managed to get one of the men responsible alive?" The four investigators didn't miss the nervous change of subject. "Was he able to confirm who was behind this arms deal? You said something about a man named Wo Fat when you were here last."

"Yes," Danny nodded, "and our suspect admitted that he worked for Wo Fat."

"Excellent," Johnson repeated his statement from earlier. "And was he able to tell you where he is?"

"No," Steve shook his head slightly, "but it wouldn't have mattered anyway, seeing as how the weapons being shipped weren't his."

"I'm sorry?" Johnson frowned in mock confusion. "So you think this Lt. J.G Watson is the person responsible for this arms deal?"

"No," Tony denied, "It's more likely he's working with someone else, someone higher ranking with the connections to pull this off."

"I've got one question for you, Captain," Gibbs interrupted, noticing the discomfort Johnson now seemed to be in. "Just why exactly didn't you act on any of the reports Clarke made about the shipment? Why did you wait until after he'd been killed to request a boat to be sent to intercept the ship?"

Johnson paused for a minute before answering, "It would have been easier to wait until the ship was closer to U.S soil before intercepting it, but as you found, his reports had been falsified to show the ship further out to sea than it was."

Gibbs nodded, though no one in the room bought the story.

"So do you have any idea who the person behind the arms deal is?" Johnson asked again.

"We know it's someone on the _Enterprise_," Danny answered vaguely.

Johnson frowned again, "And how do you know that?"

"Two suspects we have in custody both reported that they were contacted by someone via a satellite phone," Steve informed him, "we were able to trace the coordinates for when the phone calls were made and they follow the _Enterprise's_ route exactly. In fact," Steve continued as he pulled his iPhone from his pants pocket, "I have the number right here, let's just try dialling it." Steve accessed the contact he had made with the number that both Rochelle Clarke and their suspect from the warehouse had provided. He put the phone to his ear and everyone's eyes were on Captain Johnson as his jaw tightened.

After just a few seconds a loud buzzing noise was heard coming from inside one of Johnson's pockets and his jaw tightened as his hands bunched into fists.

"Are you gonna get that?" Gibbs asked as his eyes travelled to the pocket where the noise was emanating from.

Steve disconnected the call and the ringing in Johnson's pocket stopped.

"We also had our people look into your cell phone records over the past several months," Tony added, "turns out you and Watson were quite the chatterbox and spoke to each other at least two dozen times before his transfer to Rota."

"I want a lawyer," was all Johnson said in reply to the hard stares all four investigators were sending his way.

"And you'll get one," Danny moved away from the table to walk up behind Johnson and cuffed him, "along with a nice orange jumpsuit and comfy prison cell; you're under arrest." Before his partner had a chance to say anything, Danny glared fiercely at him in a pre-emptive move. "And don't even think about saying it, Steven! Twice in one day is more than enough!"

Steve smirked but still made himself appear disappointed.

"It's alright," Gibbs interrupted their stare-down, "I've got this one." The corner of his mouth quirked slightly as he turned to DiNozzo and stated, "Book 'em, Danno-zo."*

TBC

oOo

_* I just couldn't resist writing this line in! Pretty much my favourite line ever in NCIS is when Gibbs says it to Tony in reference to the original series and I saw a re-run of the episode he says it in when I was writing this and I thought 'I _have _ to include that line somehow!' I hope it didn't sound too corny... :)_

_Anyway, just one chapter to go now! Please R&R :)_


	14. Chapter 14

_A/N: At last we're up to the last chapter! A big thanks for sticking with me throughout the story, I really appreciate every single review and alert and everyone for reading this story! I hope you enjoy the final part to _Trouble In Paradise_ :)_

oOo

The small American flag that was dug into the fresh dirt waved gently in the breeze that was blowing through the National Memorial. Steve felt the same breeze tug gently at his dress uniform and cover as he stared down at the marked grave that in time would come to look the same as the thousands of other graves of the men and women already buried there. A headstone would soon mark this spot but for now there was merely a white sign stuck in the ground beside the flag, simply reading Lt. Bryce Clarke, not even a date to show that, like many of those buried around him, a man's life had been cut short.

The arrangements for Lieutenant Clarke's funeral had been organised solely by the Navy, seeing as his only living next of kin was currently behind bars. Even if the judicial system had been lenient enough to allow Rochelle Clarke to attend, she had admitted that she could never bring herself to watch the brother she had murdered be buried. The Navy had made the decision not to spend the money to send his body back to his home state of Maryland as he had no family there, so instead he had been laid to rest at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific on O'ahu.

There hadn't been a big showing for the service for the same reason the body hadn't been shipped back to the mainland, only a few other officers Clarke had served with in the past, including Steve, had attended. Catherine had spoken to Steve and had wanted to attend but the crew of the _Enterprise_ were still in slight disarray following the arrest of their Captain and she hadn't been able to get time off for the funeral.

Steve heard the soft footfalls on the grass as they approached from behind and came to stop just behind his right shoulder, he didn't need to look up to know it was Gibbs who stood behind him.

"I can't decide if it's worse to see someone you worked with disappear in handcuffs or a casket," Steve admitted without looking up, the memory of him tightening the cuffs around Griffith's wrists coming to mind.

"Losing someone you work with is never easy," Gibbs stated quietly, "though I find from experience that you get more closure from losing someone to death than to betrayal."

Steve nodded slightly in response to Gibbs' words, finding truth in what the older man was saying, thinking about how Griffith's betrayal had felt like a sucker punch to the gut when he had been forced to arrest him.

_*Flashback*_

"_Well, I'd be lying if I said this whole experience had been a pleasure," Lieutenant McGarrett held out his hand to Gibbs in parting. The two were standing in Gibbs' work space at NCIS headquarters after a final de-briefing they had given pertaining to Griffith's arrest._

_Gibbs smiled slightly in understanding as he took McGarrett's offered hand. "That's understandable, Lieutenant. Though Director Morrow seemed to be rather impressed after the arrest you made on Griffith. Not bad for someone who says they'll never go into law enforcement; maybe you do have that option in the future."_

_Steve smiled as he shook his head slightly. "Don't count on it; I'm going to focus on finding the arms dealers we were monitoring in the first place; Victor and Anton Hesse. Two new men are being assigned to the department to replace Colley and Griffith; a Lieutenant Clarke and Lieutenant J.G Adams," he explained before he paused briefly. "What about you? Are you usually a one man team?" Steve had been surprised to find that the agent appeared to be working alone and had been meaning to ask him about it._

"_My other agent took some time off after he and his fiancé broke things off between them; he'll be back next week," Gibbs explained shortly to which Steve nodded._

"_Well, next time you're in the neighbourhood don't feel like you need to stop by," Steve only half joked with the agent; he appreciated everything the agent had done for him in the way of clearing his name but he still hadn't forgotten who had arrested him in the first place and he certainly didn't want to be getting too many reminders of the whole incident anytime soon._

"_It's a small Navy, Lieutenant; I might see you around," Gibbs stated as McGarrett turned to leave towards the elevators._

_Steve paused and turned back for a moment, the corners of his mouth turning slightly as he replied. "We'll see," was all he said before stepping into the elevators and out of sight._

_*End Flashback*_

"Boss?" Tony's voice interrupted both men's thoughts, "Our plane leaves in just over thirty minutes," he reminded Gibbs.

Gibbs nodded. "Yeah, DiNozzo." He hadn't forgotten.

Steve looked up from Clarke's grave and turned to face Gibbs and nodded slightly to him as they moved away from the grave, following Tony back towards where the remaining members of their teams were waiting.

"Hey," Steve greeted them all, surprised to see that they had all made an appearance for the service. "I didn't realise you were all coming," he added, mostly looking to his team as he spoke.

"Well we knew you'd be here," Danny replied, "and we know you." Danny smiled and nodded to his partner.

Steve also smiled and nodded, appreciating the recall.

"And we had some spare time before our flight leaves from Hickam," Ziva explained with a smile, starting to feel the Hawaiian heat in her suit pants and light blouse, the bandage wrapped around her arm also adding to her discomfort.

"I'm still not sure how we were able to pull Tony away from the pool-side to get here though," McGee added as he glanced at Tony.

"Is it a little too much to ask to spend some time at the beach when you're in Hawaii?" Tony threw his arms out wide as he asked the question. "The only beach we've been to while we've been here was a crime scene, and I'm sure Hawaiian beaches look much nicer minus the dead bodies."

"Don't count on it," Danny remarked from where he was standing beside Ziva, causing the rest of Five-0 to smile and roll their eyes in amusement and the NCIS team to throw him confused looks, still not understanding how the detective could hate Hawaii.

"Well maybe next time the case will wrap up sooner and you'll have time to do some sight-seeing," Kono suggested.

"_Next time_ I hope to be in Hawaii on leave and not working a case," Tony corrected as he smiled at her, "maybe with a local tour guide?" He raised his eyebrows questioningly at her.

"Absolutely," Kono smiled and nodded which made Tony's smile grow. "After all, Chin knows some of the best spots on the Island that most tourists don't know about." She grinned slyly as she placed her arm on her cousin's shoulder, knowing what the agent had been insinuating all along and she and the rest of the teams couldn't help but laugh at Tony's taken-back expression as he eyed off the rookie's cousin.

"It would be my pleasure," Chin grinned at DiNozzo to add to his discomfort.

"I look forward to it," Tony gave him a wry smile and avoided looking in Kono's direction.

Gibbs glanced down at his watch before stating, "We need to move, Director Shepard won't be happy if we miss our flight."

"That makes one of us," Tony muttered, wanting nothing more than to spend some time relaxing in paradise, though Detective Kelly's suggestion had certainly made the thought a little uncomfortable.

Gibbs ignored his agent's comment and turned to McGarrett who was still standing to his left. "Commander," Gibbs extended his hand to him.

Steve took the agent's offered hand and nodded to Gibbs as they broke away from the handshake. The remaining team members took some time to say their own goodbyes amongst themselves to give the two team leaders a chance to say their parting words in private.

"So I guess you were able to make that transition after all," Gibbs had been intrigued to watch how McGarrett handled himself in law enforcement after the time he served in the SEALs and Naval Intelligence.

Steve smiled at the agents' recall. "Yeah, I guess so," he nodded. "It helps having a good team watching your back." Steve glanced over to where his team were still talking to the NCIS team.

Gibbs nodded his agreement as he followed McGarrett's gaze to the two teams.

"Well I admit it was more of a pleasure working with you this time than it was last time, Gibbs," Steve admitted as he glanced back to the NCIS agent.

Gibbs smiled and gave a small laugh, "I can understand that," he nodded, not forgetting the moment he had tightened the cuffs around McGarrett's wrists and he was sure the Lieutenant Commander hadn't either.

"We appreciate your help with the case, Gibbs," Steve thanked the agent, "Clarke deserved to have this resolved quickly."

"Anytime, Commander." Gibbs nodded as the two men turned back to their teams and the NCIS team prepared to leave.

Danny and Ziva smiled warmly as they shook hands in parting, before quickly shaking hands with the remaining team members as they went their separate ways and the NCIS team headed towards their car.

"I don't suppose we could go to Hickam via Waikiki Beach or Kalakaua Avenue, Boss?" If he couldn't go to the beach himself Tony figured the least he could do was to see others enjoying paradise, particularly the hundreds of women in bikinis enjoying the hot day at the beach.

Gibbs smirked as he approached the driver's door of the car but didn't bother with a response.

"Boss?" Tony asked hopefully, knowing that his chances at a detour were zero to none.

Ziva and McGee smiled at his desperate attempt.

"Will you ever give it a rest, Tony? I do not want to listen to you whine the whole flight back to Washington," Ziva complained as she walked to the front passenger seat and McGee opened the back door to the sedan.

"He's just upset because he struck out with Officer Kalakaua," McGee grinned at his teammate as he took a seat in the back of the car.

Tony glared at him from where he was on the opposite side of the car, "Nobody asked you, McNosey." He slid into the back seat of the car next to McGee as he finished speaking. "So what about that detour, Boss?"

Gibbs kept a serious expression as he started the engine, "Not unless you want to swim back to Washington, DiNozzo."

Tony gave up on the idea of a detour as he turned to gaze out at paradise through the tinted windows, ignoring his teammate's smirks as the car pulled out to take them in the direction of Hickam.

"What? No goodbye kiss?" Steve smirked at his partner once Ziva and the rest of the NCIS team were out of earshot.

Chin and Kono grinned as Danny threw Steve a withering look. "Laugh all you like, Super-SEAL, but you're not the one with her phone number," Danny smiled smugly and brandished a card Ziva had written her number on.

"Looks like someone was impressed by your tie's sacrifice," Chin grinned at the detective.

"Playing the hero card, huh?" Steve smiled. "Very smooth, Bud. So will you ever ask her out?" Steve doubted Danny would ever make a move on the Mossad officer, knowing that his partner still held feelings for Rachel and wasn't quite ready to let go of her completely.

Danny shrugged, all but confirming his partner's theory. "I dunno, it's not like Washington is right next door or anything, but at the very least I'll have somewhere to stay next time I'm in D.C," he smiled.

Steve nodded, briefly glancing across to the agents' sedan as the engine started up and it pulled away from the lot.

"So Danny tells us that you and Gibbs have quite a history," Kono had been curious after Danny had mentioned the fact to her and Chin in passing and had been waiting for the opportunity to ask Steve about it.

"He did, did he?" Steve shot his partner a sideways glance.

"I may have mentioned something about how Gibbs had introduced you to a set of metal bracelets for the first time," he shrugged in reply. "At least I think it was for the first time, though knowing you, somehow I think I could be wrong about that."

"Well he was also the one who got me out of them," Steve explained briefly to Chin and Kono.

"Well I happen to know for a fact that it wasn't Agent Gibbs who was the first one to introduce our boss here to a pair of handcuffs," Chin barely managed to contain a grin as he addressed Danny and Kono, before turning to Steve with a knowing smile.

Danny and Kono's eyebrows shot up at his statement as Steve frowned in surprise and quickly locked his gaze on Chin's smiling face.

Danny's grin stretched from ear to ear as he turned back to his partner, "What's this I hear, Steven?"

Steve refused to answer as he kept his hard stare focused on Chin, as though daring him to elaborate to their two curious team members. "How do you know about that?" Steve asked, ignoring his partner's grin.

"Know about what?" Kono asked, a smile starting to form on her lips as she watched the exchange between her boss and her cousin.

Chin ignored Steve's glare as he turned back to Danny and Kono, "Well, after Kukui High won the football state championship in '92, some of the players celebrated that night with a few beers and got busted for underage drinking; the starting quarterback included," Chin flashed a smile in Steve's direction. "There were no charges made but they were all placed in handcuffs for the ride home," he finished.

Danny and Kono couldn't contain their laughter, which only grew upon looking at the scowl Steve was wearing on his face.

Steve looked questioningly back to Chin and repeated his question from earlier, "How do you know about that? Were you were one of the officer's there?" Steve felt slightly embarrassed to think that his current team member may have been a witness to the incident.

"No, I wasn't," Chin shook his head with a smile and Steve felt slightly relieved. "But your Dad was pretty pissed about you being dropped off on his doorstep in a pair of handcuffs in the middle of the night by some of his cop buddies; it seemed like the only thing he could talk about the next day on the beat."

"So, Chin," Danny got the older man's attention, "just how many stories of Steve's reckless adolescence were you privy to as his father's partner?" He finished by smirking at Steve who was fixing him with a fierce glare that would have had a lesser man running for the hills.

Chin laughed, "There were more than one, apparently when 'Stevie' was young he had interesting ideas on how to have fun," he smiled as McGarrett's glare seemed to grow harder, something that only a minute ago seemed impossible.

Kono had the decency to attempt to stifle her laugh at Chin's use of the name 'Stevie', Danny, however, laughed openly. "Now those stories I _have_ to hear!"

"Danny..." Steve growled his partner's name threateningly before he was cut off.

"Zip it, Stevie," Danny pointed in Steve's direction, cherishing the use of a nickname that grated on his partner's nerves as much as the use of Danno grated on his. He turned back to Chin and Kono, "Five o'clock this afternoon at his place," he gestured a hand in Steve's direction before pointing to Chin. "You make sure you bring a whole whack of those stories." He threw his irritated partner a glee-filled glance before finishing, "I'll bring the beers."

-End-


End file.
